Ivermectin stocks confiscated by the ARS?
In Martinique, the news spread like wildfire: to prevent doctors from prescribing, health authorities have requisitioned all stocks of this controversial antiparasitic, considered by some to be a miracle cure against Covid-19.
Quickly denied by the AES and the prefecture, the false news continues to circulate on the What's App groups and social networks.
Read alsoCovid-19: more than 200 caregivers join the West Indies to help their colleagues who "call for help"
While the health situation in Martinique is deteriorating, leading the authorities to extend the confinement for three weeks, the virus of mistrust is spreading at full speed, shared en masse on social networks and WhatsApp channels. Trying somehow to reconnect with the population and stem the spread of false news, the prefecture has created a Citizen Transparency Committee. Seven citizens from civil society responsible for raising the questions of the Martinican population. “
We hear that the virus is not so dangerous and that we are being lied to about the mortality figures. There are also many rumors about caregivers who came to reinforce the metropolis, who, unvaccinated, would have infected patients in the hospital.
”, Lists lawyer Danielle Marceline, originally from Fort-de-France and member of the citizens' committee on transparency.
Not to mention the vaccine that would have been created with a strain of AIDS to poison the sick, and the rumor about evacuations in metropolitan France that would not be reimbursed by social security.
"To understand the place of fake news in Martinique, we must understand the place of social networks and local groups, which are the main source of information on what is happening on the island,"
she continues.
Rumors and fake news
Same observation at the hospital: “
I am struck by the persistence of false news in a context of health drama. It's brainwashing
, ”sighs André Cabié, head of the infectious diseases department at the CHU of Fort-de-France. “
Even people in hospital continue to show us the information they received on their cellphones. Bereaved families still refuse to be vaccinated,
”he continues. As a result, barely 20% of the population is vaccinated in Martinique, against more than 60% nationally, and the seriousness of the health situation is largely underestimated.
Where does such mistrust come from? "
Martinique does not have the exclusivity of fake news, but there is a real break with the health authorities
", nuance the sociologist André Lucrèce, who is part of the transparency committee. "
This mistrust has political roots: there is a refusal to obey the rules of the metropolis, fueled by a long-standing mistrust of the state and identity claims
," he continues. The scandal over chlordecone, the harmful pesticide that contaminated the island's soils and waters in the 1990s, is also fueling resentment towards health authorities. “
Chlordecone, vaccine: same fight!
», Tweeted an Internet user.
On the island, the use of traditional medicine, such as peak grass, is often favored as a remedy for Covid-19, to the detriment of vaccination.
Read alsoCovid-19: the reasons for the rejection of vaccines in the West Indies
Answer the questions
Faced with doubts, the citizens' transparency committee must provide answers by working "in complete independence". On August 9, they visited the intensive care units of the CHU Fort-de-France and met the main department heads.
“We also have a meeting with Public Health France to communicate the questions that come up and the answers received. We are going to ask them how the vaccination coverage is calculated, whether the oxygen supply is sufficient, whether the reinforcements arriving in our hospitals are indeed vaccinated ”
, continues Danielle Marcella.
