Missouri hospital CEO: People spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation should ‘shut up’

The president and CEO of Springfield, Mo.-based CoxHealth urged anyone spreading information about the COVID-19 vaccine that is not factually based to stop, according to a July 1 Twitter post.

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Four details:

  1. In the tweet, Steve Edwards said, “If you are making wildly disparaging comments about the vaccine, and have no public health expertise, you may be responsible for someone’s death. Shut up.”
  2. The tweet also said the hospital had four COVID-19-related pediatric inpatients, with the patients ranging in age from just a few weeks old to 18 years old.
  3. In a June 29 tweet, the CEO said there are about 100 COVID-19 inpatients in his hospital. “If you are hesitant to get a COVID vaccine, and don’t know who to trust, try to eliminate all the noise on both sides and ask the one person who won’t judge you, the one you entrust the most with your healthcare. Ask your personal doctor.”
  4. Mr. Edwards has worked with the Missouri health system for about 30 years and has served as the CEO for 10 years.

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