Prominent Auckland waterfront bar owner Leo Molloy has called out anti-vaxxers in a strongly worded column, labelling them "village idiots".
In the column published on Stuff Molloy, who owns Auckland bar HeadQuarters, outlines how social media has given anti-vaxxers the platform to have a "very loud voice" and spread misinformation, which has put doubt in people's minds about getting immunised against COVID-19.
"Social media is that offender, the bastard spawn of US technology and Asian manufacturers, which has empowered and entitled a new world of village idiots," Molloy writes for Stuff. "It's given each of them a voice - a very loud voice - and a source of unlimited disinformation about vaccines and the perils thereof."
Molloy, who's planning an Auckland Mayoralty bid, goes on to talk about the history of vaccination and how it's saved lives for hundreds of years.
"It dates back to the late 1700s, and many a life has been saved since, from smallpox through to rubella, polio and tetanus, simply by using a variety of tricks to stimulate the immune system of the vaccinated so that pathogens are rendered harmless."
This isn't the first time Molloy has voiced his opinion about anti-vaxxers. On Monday, he released a robust sermon for the anti-vaxxers, describing them as "twats" who spread information from "pretend sources".
"Now listen here you anti-vaxxers we really have to talk. I have the benefit of a wee bit of education," Molloy says on Facebook. "I spent seven years of my life in a tertiary institution learning how to be a vet and we learned a bit along the way. I learned enough to know when I see good science.
"... People that have just enough education to recognise what DNA or RNA is but not enough education to understand that the virus [vaccine] is just a simple 40,000 amino acid long single strand protein with a lipid coat on it. It is really basic science and it's great technology.
"Guess what it does, it stops you dying and not just you dying it stops your kids from getting the disease, it stops your whānau, your parents, your parents-parents, your uncle your aunt your mates your mother, everybody it protects them as well.
"You become safe and the virus can't attack you and if it does, it tends to not hurt you greatly."
