The head of South Africa's courts has said vaccines for COVID-19 could be part of a "satanic agenda", asking why he should have to get one if he doesn't have the disease.
Mogoeng Mogoeng, the nation's chief justice, was taking part in a public prayer on Thursday when he railed against vaccines, which scientists say will be required to end the pandemic which has killed 1.6 million people this year.
"I lock out every demon of COVID-19, I lock out any vaccine that is not of [God]," Mogoeng said at Tembisa Hospital in Ekurhuleni, local media reported.
"If there be any vaccine that is of the devil, meant to infuse 666 in the lives of people, meant to corrupt their DNA … any such vaccine, may it be destroyed by fire."
The vaccines would "advance a satanic agenda of the mark of the beast", he also reportedly claimed.
A number of vaccines have shown promising results in trials recently, with one - made by US pharma giant Pfizer and German start-up BioNTech - already being rolled out in some countries.
Without a vaccine, the world faces continued lockdowns and possibly millions more dead, scientists say.
On Friday, Mogoeng said any vaccine must be voluntary - agreeing with most experts - but admitted he didn't know much about how they work.
"I don't know anything about vaccines... Why should I have the vaccine if I am not positive? ... I am crying unto God if there is any vaccine with 666, I want God to destroy it, if there is any vaccine meant to corrupt the DNA of people, I am asking God to interrupt it, any clean vaccine, they must produce it quickly."
Vaccines go through rigorous trials involving tens of thousands of people before they are approved for use in the general public. There have been reports of some adverse reactions to the Pfizer vaccine in people with severe allergies.
There is no evidence of any Satanic agenda at any of the major vaccine manufacturers.
Case numbers are growing in South Africa, which has had more than 22,000 deaths already. More than 8000 new infections were reported on Wednesday.
"It is unfortunate that someone of that stature is misleading people because vaccines are such a major part of controlling this epidemic and it is unfortunate that someone with such influence is opposing efforts to control it," Barry Schoub, a virology professor at Wits University in Johannesburg, told the Sunday Times Daily.
The US is expected to authorise the Pfizer vaccine soon. New Zealand has purchased some, but waiting to see how the rollout in the UK and other countries goes before rolling it out - taking advantage of its lack of community transmission of the virus.
