fact finder podcast
Status: 6/18/2021 6:02 a.m.
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Vaccinations for children are a sensitive topic, contradicting assessments and scaremongering cause uncertainty. In addition, the topic can lead to serious conflicts in families, like a teenager in fact finder podcast reported.
When it comes to vaccinations for children, many parents feel insecure: Why is there no general recommendation? What is the truth of reports of serious side effects? Why, of all people, are activists repeatedly instrumentalizing children in order to stir up fear and hatred?
Many questions are open. For example, what happens if parents refuse a vaccination but teenagers insist on it? What can young people do when the Corona issue leads to serious conflicts in the family? 16-year-old Emma reports fact finder podcast, she avoided the topic at home because her mother had radicalized in the pandemic. If she gets vaccinated against her parents’ wishes, it will “really pop,” fears Emma.
Moderator Anja Reschke and Anja Martini, science editor at ARD-aktuell, and Andre Wolf, fact checker at Mimikama, talked about these questions and the use of children for false reports in the new edition of fact finder podcasts discussed.
Recurring patterns
Fact checker Wolf explains that children in particular often appeared in the context of false reports. In autumn, for example, it was said that children had died wearing everyday masks. In the meantime, such stories emerged mainly on the subject of vaccination. In this context, Wolf points to a central motive behind such false reports.
Children are repeatedly used as an argument to dehumanize an opponent, an enemy image. That is a very typical picture. It’s already so old that it’s older than the internet itself. We already know that from the Middle Ages, from so-called ritual murder legends. A really well-known ritual murder legend from the Middle Ages is that Jews would kidnap children, would kidnap Christian children in order to have their blood drawn, drink this blood and thus stay young forever. This story actually surfaced again in the context of the corona pandemic.
Legends from the Middle Ages are “only dressed in a new modern garb,” says Wolf.
Anja Martini explains that the doctors can decide on vaccinations for young people.
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Andre Wolf sees patterns that repeat themselves: Children are repeatedly instrumentalized.
Image: Claudia Spieß
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Doctors can decide
On the question of whether children could be vaccinated against their parents’ wishes, Anja Martini explains that they should seek advice from their doctor – “and in the end he has to decide whether this child is really able to decide for himself”.
Wolf recommends that young people seek family help in such conflicts in order to moderate the dispute. As an example, he cites experts who are also active in connection with sects.
Reschke and Paweletz present podcast
Reschke and daily News-Moderator Michail Paweletz alternates the faktenfinder podcast. You can find all episodes on tagesschau.de, in the ARD-Audiothek as well as on many platforms that offer podcasts.
Child vaccination: what is true and what is fake?
17.6.2021 5:00 a.m.
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* We have changed the identity of “Emma” to protect her.
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