Edzard Ernst informs us:

Yesterday, it was reported that one of Austria’s best-known opponents of vaccination has died as a result of coronavirus infection. He vehemently refused treatment in hospital. Instead, he insisted on treating himself – and tragically, he is not an isolated case.

“Miracle Mineral Solution” (MMS) is being promoted as a treatment for all kinds of diseases – including, of course, the coronavirus. But MMS is nothing more than the bleach and disinfectant chlorine dioxide, or CDL for short. It made headlines when Donald Trump suggested it as a remedy against Covid-19. Subsequently, CDL became highly popular amongst the anti-vax brigade.

Johann Biacsics was one of the leading figures of the anti-vaccination scene in Austria. On 11 November, he was seen in a Vienna hospital with an acute corona infection. At this stage, he had already taken chlorine dioxide because of fever complaints. Biacsics was, of course, not vaccinated and refused treatment. He was firmly convinced that he had already overcome the infection thanks to his treatment with chlorine dioxide.

The senior physician at the Vienna hospital saw things differently. His condition was “life-threatening”, she said. But instead of accepting treatment in hospital, Biacsics discharged himself and said he would rather treat himself. Once home, Biacsics put in an IV line with chlorine dioxide and sodium chloride. Two days later he was dead.

Well, we have a choice. We can accept what we are told by professionals and the institutions staffed and led by professionals, or we can accept what we are told by random opinionators on social media. I’m a random opinionator myself, and for that reason (along with others) I think it’s a safer bet to trust the professionals and institutions. I say “trust” because I don’t have medical knowledge and because most people don’t, so most of us do have to rely on the people who do have medical knowledge. But it seems strange that so many people opt to do the opposite – to trust Donald Trump raving about injecting bleach at a press conference instead of people with the relevant knowledge and training saying don’t inject bleach.