Prince Harry Blames Vax Hesitancy on ‘Those Who Peddle in Lies and Fear’ in New Media, Social Media

 

By JACK MONTGOMERY

Meghan Markle’s husband Harry, Duke of Sussex, has blamed vaccine hesitancy on “families around the world… being overwhelmed by mass-scale misinformation across news media and social media”.

In a surprise appearance at the GQ Men of the Year Awards — made via video rather than following one of the private jet trips the supposedly climate-conscious prince is fond of — the working royal turned woke celebrity complained that “Less than two per cent of people in the developing world have received a single dose” of coronavirus vaccine, while “At the same time, families around the world are being overwhelmed by mass-scale misinformation across news media and social media, where those who peddle in lies and fear are creating vaccine hesitancy, which in turn leads to divided communities and eroding trust.”

Harry added that “This is a system we need to break if we are to overcome Covid-19 and the risk of new variants.”

He also warned that “until every community can access the vaccine and until every community is connected to trustworthy information about the vaccine, then we are all at risk”.

How the prince might clamp down on “mass-scale misinformation” around vaccination in his idea of a perfect world was not made entirely clear, but he is not known as a champion of press freedom or freedom of speech more generally.

In an appearance on the aptly titled Armchair Experts podcast in the United States, for example, he complained to host Dax Shepard about the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and similar rights.
“I’ve got so much I want to say about the First Amendment. I still don’t understand it, but it is bonkers,” he said — earning him the sobriquet ‘the Prince of Cancel Culture’ from Brexit champion Nigel Farage.