In Slovenia, Antivaxxer’s attacks on healthcare workers are intensifying – EURACTIV.com
One of the most prominent Slovenian medical experts withdrew from public life after falling victim to one in a series of attacks by opponents of vaccination and the restriction of COVID-19 on healthcare professionals.
Borut Štrukelj, a researcher and professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Pharmacy who actively promotes vaccines against COVID-19 in the media, has announced that he will no longer appear in public after being physically attacked by two vaccination activists over the weekend.
“My efforts to fight the pandemic are now over,” he said, describing the incident as “the last straw”.
The decision was made amid growing reports of hate mail and calls from health professionals.
Tatjana Lejko Zupanc, head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University Medical Center Ljubljana and an outspoken advocate of vaccination, said that employees receive tons of hate mail.
“The level of communication is worse than street communication between gangs,” she said, adding that she feels like she’s “in the mud up to her knees – or even deeper.”
Even the staff conducting the COVID-19 test feels the heat. Tatjana Lekšan, head of the largest Slovenian covid testing center in Ljubljana, said that people waiting for testing were often rude and apologized to health professionals.
“They’re yelling at us. They say that we are not to blame, but we still get an ear, “said Lekšan.
Slovenia has a small but loud movement against vaccination. Last year, a test site at COVID-19 was set on fire, vaccination opponents stormed the studio of the National Public Broadcasting, and the head of the National Institute of Public Health was harassed in the street.
After two years of rapidly changing restrictions, anti-vaxers now appear to be becoming increasingly radicalized by what many describe as chaotic government messages and the absence of a coherent strategy to combat the pandemic.
“In the current tense health, security and political circumstances, anger and aggression are common. This anger is further inflamed and legitimized by disrespectful, aggressive and offensive forms of communication by prominent politicians. It is an irrational response to irrational statements and measures of the health and political authorities, “psychologist Mirjana Ule told TV Slovenia.