On March 31, a Facebook user Nana Chaligava published a post claiming that Switzerland refused to vaccinate. Chaligava notes that the Government of Switzerland knew that the population had negative attitudes to the coronavirus vaccination, so it did not propose a referendum on this issue and directly refused the vaccines. In a broad post, Chaligava also writes about the importance of the referendum and that Georgians should regain the right to adopt or abolish laws based on referenda.
Chaligava writes that the given information was reported “in American news”, but she does not name a specific media outlet.
The report that Switzerland refused to vaccinate is false. The anti-coronavirus vaccination process was launched in Switzerland in December 2020. As of today, there are 535,250 vaccinated in the country. Switzerland only stopped the usage of AstraZeneca vaccine, but it continues to vaccinate using Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Moreover, none of the referenda, carried out in 2020-2021, concerned coronavirus or vaccines.
The Facebook user Nana Chaligava does not indicate a source in her post, nor does she name a specific media outlet that, as she claims, disseminated the information about Switzerland refusing the vaccination. The report about Switzerland refusing to vaccinate is false.
There is no such information in open sources. Switzerland only stopped vaccinating with AstraZeneca vaccine. As of today, the country only vaccinates its citizens using Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. As the Swiss medicines regulator agency Swissmedic stated, they have not received enough information from clinical trials to continue vaccinating with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
As of March 28, there were 535,250 vaccinated in Switzerland, accounting for 8.3% of the entire population.
The process of vaccinating against the coronavirus was launched in Switzerland on December 23, 2020. The vaccination is voluntary and, according to the government’s plan, it intends to vaccinate 70% of the population, or approximately six million people until summer.
As for the referendum, none out of nine referenda held in Switzerland in 2020 and three referenda held in 2021 concerned the coronavirus, therefore there is no skepticism towards vaccines either. The referenda held in 2020 concerned issues such as affordable housing, economic relations, environmental issues, discrimination, and taxes.
In December 2020, a group called Swiss Freedom Movement started to collect signatures to hold a referendum about a mandatory vaccination. The group wants to make sure that the rights of those who refuse to vaccinate are protected by the constitution. They need to collect 100,000 signatures until June 1, 2022 to be able to hold the referendum. Another referendum, concerning the restrictions imposed by the Government of Switzerland to stop the spread of the coronavirus, will likely be held after June 2021.
The disinformation on Switzerland refusing to vaccinate was also disseminated in May 2020. This disinformation was initially published by a Russian satirical webpage panorama.pub and was later re-shared by other editions. Fake news by panorama.pub mention that the Parliament of Switzerland decided to stop vaccinations for five years
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Nana Chaligava
Natela Kiria
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