Lisa-Maria Kellermayr, an Austrian general practitioner, was a doctor who dedicated her life to her patients and was vocal about the dangers of Covid-19 on Twitter and in the media. She had endured months of death threats from Covid conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. Colleagues expressed frustration at the lack of support she received to deal with the daily abuse. Last month, Kellermayr took her own life.
When news of Kellermayr’s death broke in the medical community, the reaction was one of sadness but little surprise. During the pandemic, scientists have suffered enormous amounts of abuse and guilt while trying to do their jobs. I’ve suffered far less than many of my peers, but I’ve still had my fair share of cyberattacks during the pandemic. I was targeted in tweets, YouTube videos, blogs, viral Facebook posts and malicious reviews on my Wikipedia page. Someone pointed to a global health talk I gave in 2018 as evidence that I had caused the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the “deep state”. The attacks came from all directions: anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers, conspiracy theorists, anti-Bill Gates, anti-Welcome Trust, anti-medicine, anti-Scottish Government, Tory politicians, all mixed together in strange ways.
In the field of public health, academics spend their lives researching problems, trying to find solutions that can save people’s lives, and offering advice on how to stop people getting sick. Science is not about becoming famous, but about building knowledge. The work involves teaching the next generation, doing research, hopefully getting strong results and sharing them with others in the discipline. Covid-19 suddenly put scientists in the spotlight. I don’t think anyone working in global public health expected the response they experienced during the pandemic. Those who work in public health are usually the good guys.
Faced with a deadly virus that required an extraordinary response, scientists became an easy scapegoat. They are certainly not responsible for the collective losses and traumas suffered during the pandemic. Even with the strict measures put in place to slow the spread of Covid-19, the virus still caused more than 200,000 deaths in Britain and more than a million in the United States. In the UK, the crucial issue was always the collapse of the NHS. It’s easy to forget that health care services are limited while a loved one needs care. And it’s easy to blame GPs and GPs for waiting times without realizing the long hours they work.
Many doctors, scientists and medical professionals have left the field because they have decided it is not worth the personal cost. GPs, nurses and trained medical professionals are exhausted and burnt out, and around 7,000 health workers are leaving the NHS every month. The scientists I’ve spoken to increasingly refuse to be interviewed about vaccines on TV and in newspapers because they’re wary of the backlash they might get from anti-vaxxers.
This has created a vacuum where expert communication should be. Instead, pseudo-celebrities are building huge followings on platforms such as Twitter, where they are spreading insidious rubbish, such as the myth that vaccines involve micro-chipping individuals or that Covid-19 is part of a global hoax. This creates anger and resentment, but does nothing to improve society or people’s well-being.
Unfortunately, many people now associate public health with restrictions and blockages. Managing infectious disease has always been about identifying what makes someone sick, trying to understand how transmission is happening, identifying measures to stop it before more people get sick, and developing vaccinations and treatments. But in the minds of many, due to the extraordinary response to Covid-19, it has now become synonymous with the shutdown of entire sectors, stay-at-home orders and severe restrictions on mobility and individual freedoms.
Some people who abuse public health experts and scientists have faced consequences: a man who emailed death threats to White House Covid-19 adviser Tony Fauci was sentenced to three years in prison. This needs to be widely reported so it’s a warning to others that there are real penalties for threatening people, either online or in real life. A partial solution can be found in banning anonymous accounts online. If people had to use their real name on social media, it’s hard to imagine they would feel so empowered to attack scientists. This would also save from the flood of bots.
Institutional support for scientists is also essential, not only from employers but also from their peers. In cases where the abuse becomes really serious, such as death threats and hate speech, scientists and health workers should feel able to go to the police. Those in the public eye should not be blamed for abuse because they decided to go on television or tweet something. If someone is paying attention to an important issue and sharing information based on their expertise, this should be seen as a public service. And these individuals must be protected. As Kellermayr’s case shows, we need legal and structural change now to protect those who strive to make a valuable contribution to society.
Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or by email at [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 or call for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the Lifeline crisis support service is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
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