A GP practice serving as a Covid-19 vaccination centre was vandalised with anti-vaccine graffiti messages over the weekend.
A vandal spray painted ‘666’ at the pharmacy-end of Alwoodley Medical Centre in Leeds, along with the words ‘CV19 vaccine deaths 653’ on the side of the practice.
Dr Martin Sutcliffe, a partner at the practice, told Pulse that he found the incident ‘upsetting’, and that he presumes that the text ‘suggests we’re devilish or misbehaving somehow’.
He added that the practice also believes it has decoded the ‘653’ message – as an internet search revealed it links back to ‘a website that is pushing falsified data suggesting that there have been 653 deaths related to the Covid vaccine’.
‘We need to feel safe. I need to make sure my staff and patients attending the site feel safe. This is a one-off incident, but it puts it on your radar,’ he added.
Dr Sutcliffe said he and others turned up on Monday to a vandalised practice and that he informed the police and the local CCG before arranging to clean it off.
He added that dealing with this took him away from routine work and contacting patients.
Dr Sutcliffe suggested the practice could have been a target as it is a designated site for Covid vaccinations.
He said: ‘Prior to becoming a vaccination centre, we had all sorts of visits, and one of those was from West Yorkshire Police to look at site security. There is a lot of concern about anti-vaccination demonstrations and activity.’
According to Dr Sutcliffe, his practice is not the only one in the area that has been targeted by supporters of conspiracy theories surrounding Covid vaccines.
He said: ‘Some Leeds surgeries have had anti-vaccination protests around their clinics.’
In October, another GP practice was vandalised with ‘anti-GP’ graffiti – leading to calls for more public support from NHS England.
GPs whose mental health is suffering relating to the pandemic, their work or personal lives can access the dedicated NHS Practitioner Health support service.
READERS' COMMENTS [9]
Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles
All the GPs in that practice need to go off with a “stress-related illness”.
John Glasspool – very much doubt that… Resilient bunch in a close and supportive team!
Salute to you all
This is a crime , by rule of law .
And the act must be condemned. Where are the so called government ‘spokesman’?
Probably their Netflix stalled and they wanted a whiff of CFCs. Glad they learnt to count to number 6.
… the difference between the two being that pond scum itself is the residue of once live matter that served a biologically useful role.
How terrible. Keep the faith Martin, you all keep going and protect yourselves at all times.. Even though millions have been vaccinated, many people still do not believe in the vaccine and are not taking it and trying to dissuade others from taking it. We as GPs need to keep talking to our patients, friends and relatives to let them know how important this vaccination is.
Fawzia,
It is not for GPs to tell the public how important the vaccine is. It is for public health to do that. GPs are helping public health.
Charles Darwin talked about the ‘survival of the fittest’ and NOT ‘survival of the THICKEST’.
Idiots with spray paint cans are less likely to pass their genes on to future generations, which will be a net benefit to society.
Covid, and the ability to comprehend simple realities are a suprises ‘selection pressure’ for 2020! Ironically, most of these people probably also think that ‘evolution by natural selection’ is ‘just a theory’.
I completely agree Esmat