Leading Latvian infectologist receives regular threats

Take note – story published 2 years ago

Uga Dumpis, head of the Infection Control Department at Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital, told Latvian Radio June 29 he is surprised by some people's hatred of science in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an interview on the Krustpunkta show, he confirmed that he regularly receives threats in website comments since becoming a well-known public figure during the pandemic.

"Specialists in my field across the globe are experiencing similar problems... Yes, the threat is constant, you could say. There are different types of threats. If you read the comments, you could say threats against life. Of course, it hurts me, I don't like it and it seems something incredible,” Dumpis said.

At the same time, he added that he did not study the comments about himself. "I have not become so masochistic as to to study how I am being assailed. I don't have time for that,” the doctor laughed.

Dumpis admitted that he was surprised by people's hatred of science and he did not know where it came from.

Commenting on the opposition of certain politicians to vaccination against Covid-19, the infectologist said that he was ashamed of it. "It is simply awful that it is a public figure... I've been surprised by the unrestrained speech of [some] politicians for a year or a year and a half about both science and the virus,” said Dumpis.

On Wednesday, Dumpis offered up some English-language reading via his Twitter account, which he said gave a good, scientific explanation of why vaccination is necessary.

 

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