Anti-vax conspiracy theorists think God sent a tornado to destroy Pfizer facility

Anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists will jump on pretty much anything to suggest that the life saving Covid-19 vaccines are, in fact, evil.

This time, they are celebrating a tornado that destroyed vaccine-maker Pfizer’s manufacturing plant and calling it an act of God.

A tornado on Wednesday (July 19) ripped through the facility at Rocky Mount, North Carolina, crushing walls and caving in the roof. The factory produces about one-quarter of the medical injectables used in the US.

Nobody was injured, according to the Daily Dot. However, more than 50,000 pallets of vials, IV bags and anaesthesia bottles were left strewn around the factory’s grounds.

Daniel Horowitz, a writer for rightwing website The Blaze, said that God “has a sense of humor” in a tweet, alongside footage of the wreckage.

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Another user, Nick Searcy, said the "tornado saved lives."

Anonymous conservative user "@wethepeople0825" called the tornado an "act of God," before saying that "he moves in mysterious ways".

Ron Watkins, a failed Arizona congressional candidate who some people have speculated could be the person behind the QAnon conspiracy movement, said the tornado “feels like Genesis 19:24,” citing a Biblical passage discussing God's judgement on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Evangelical conservatives have a long history of attributing disasters to God’s anger. The Aids epidemic was one of their targets in the 1980s. The World Health Organisation estimates that as many as 51m people have died of the HIV virus which causes Aids.

Pat Robertson, a conspiracy theorist who died earlier this year, said Hurricane Katrina was punishment for Americans who received abortions. Some 1,392 people died in the disaster in 2005.

When it comes to the recent tornado at the Pfizer plant, some have gone even further, suggesting that the tornado was a man-made event dreamt up by Pfizer.

"That's not an Act of God ... it's a man-made disaster," a user named Megan theorised. "If you think the most ruthless company on the planet isn't capable of destroying evidence — you're living in lego land!"

The most ridiculous part about all of this? The plant at Rocky Mount doesn’t even produce or store Covid-19 vaccines, according to the Associated Press.

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