Former BC Liberal Party member criticized for posting anti-vaccination meme
Posted December 27, 2020 12:42 pm.
LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) — A former high ranking B.C. Liberal Party MLA says he’s sorry after he tweeted a meme popular with anti-vaccination and anti-restriction groups.
Langley’s Rich Coleman tweeted a picture that read, “How will we know if the vaccines are working? Will the survival rate go from 99.5% to 99.7%?”
It didn’t take long for that tweet to generate ire in the community.
Coleman quickly deleted the tweet and blowback triggered a swift response from the former deputy premier.
“So I tweeted something earlier and on reflection thought it wasn’t that funny. My bad. Sorry folks,” Coleman’s follow-up tweet reads.
After tweeting misinformation about COVID-19, Rich Coleman says, upon reflection, this isn’t funny. Death rate is one of the hardest data points to report on in the face of conspiracy: it’s nuanced and a moving target… but it’s never been funny https://t.co/OZcS2ybXvn https://t.co/9x9sRy27z3 pic.twitter.com/1lD1X5Ja7t
— Ash Kelly she/her (settler) (@AshDKelly) December 27, 2020
Coleman added the tweet sends the wrong message and he fully supports vaccines and has been against anti-vaxxers for years.
Coleman served under both premiers Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark as a high-level MLA and was in both their cabinets. He was even the front-runner to succeed Gordon Cambell but he didn’t throw his hat in the ring in 2010 for family reasons.
Coleman also said he would not run in the 2020 provincial election.
