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Trending: The Anti-Vax Files: The rise of India’s ‘Covid quack’

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The Anti-Vax Files

24/04/2021 GMT

The rise of India’s ‘Covid quack’

BBC World Service - Trending, The Anti-Vax Files, The rise of India’s ‘Covid quack’

India is struggling with Covid – and one man’s dodgy ideas aren’t helping.

As India struggles with a surge in Covid-19 cases, we investigate one man who’s spreading outrageous medical falsehoods – and making money from them.

As India struggles with a surge in Covid-19 cases, it is also dealing with a wave of misinformation about the virus and vaccines. 

Although now banned from Facebook and YouTube, self-proclaimed nutritionist Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury built his social media stardom by claiming that conventional medicine is almost entirely wrong about coronavirus.

Labelled a dangerous “quack” by his critics, Chowdhury has a track record of spreading outrageous medical falsehoods. He is opposed to all vaccines and even claims AIDS is not caused by HIV. 

During the global pandemic he has gained a new audience by spreading conspiracy theories about Covid-19, which he calls “the scandal of the millennium”.

Chowdhury says – contrary to scientific evidence - that masks and lockdowns are harmful and warns that hospital treatment only increases a patient’s chances of dying.

He claims to have “cured” thousands of Covid-19 patients through diet alone and has set up a course where followers can pay to learn his methods. We challenge his bogus claims and uncover new details about the death of one of his followers. 

Presenter: Mike Wendling
Reporter: Reha Kansara
Producer: Ed Main
With reporting by: Shruti Menon, BBC Reality Check, Delhi

Trending: The Anti-Vax Files

We investigate how anti-vaccine activists have used social media to spread their message.

Scientists say only a vaccine will get us out of the pandemic. So why do some feel the anti-vax movement has grown stronger than ever over the last year?

In a new series from BBC Trending a team of disinformation reporters investigate how hard-core anti-vaccine activists have used social media to spread their message far and wide, capitalising on fear and mistrust to advance their own agendas during the pandemic.

BBC Trending: The Anti-Vax Files explores how the movement has manifested across the world, from France – portrayed as one of the most vaccine-sceptic countries in the world – to India, South Africa, and Germany. The team also uncovers the extraordinary stories of people fighting online against this misinformation and those who are actively promoting the facts and the science behind vaccination - often working without pay or institutional support.

The series will turn the spotlight on the world’s social media giants asking whether they turned a blind eye, or just acted too late in countering misinformation about vaccines. It will also look at more traditional sources of information – journalists, governments, and health officials – and ask whether they simply weren’t ready for the “infodemic” that was to come with the virus.

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