‘Pretty sure the Nazis did something similar with yellow stars’: Former Facebook exec comes under fire for saying everyone vaccinated should wear a certain color mask to let others know they have had a Covid jab
- Chamath Palihapitiya has come under fire on Twitter over coronavirus vaccines
- Ex-Facebook exec said everyone with a vaccine should wear a distinctive mask
- His idea drew comparisons with Nazi Germany’s use of stars to single out Jews
- An ICU nurse from New York became the first American to be vaccinated today
An ex-Facebook executive has come under fire for suggesting that everyone who gets a coronavirus vaccine should wear a distinctive face mask.
Chamath Palihapitiya tweeted his idea on Friday, before Americans started receiving the jabs, saying the masks would ‘signal to others that the [wearers] are vaccinated’.
But his tweet quickly came under fire, drawing comparisons with Nazi Germany‘s use of golden Star of David symbols to single our Jews for persecution.
A former Facebook executive has come under fire for suggesting that everyone who has had the coronavirus vaccine should wear a certain color mask when they are out. Chamath Palihapitiya is pictured
Chamath Palihapitiya said in a tweet on Friday that everyone who gets the jab should ‘all wear a mask of a special design or color’.
‘How about we just put a gold star on ones that aren’t?’, one user tweeted in reply to the post.
‘Pretty sure the Nazis did something similar with yellow stars,’ another retorted.
A third added: ‘So that everyone not willing to get the vaccine (for any reason) should feel different, wrong and ashamed to such a point that he’ll force himself to get the vaccine, right?’
Mr Palihapitiya, a venture capital investor who was one of Facebook’s earliest senior executives, spoke out on Friday – ahead of the start of the US vaccination campaign, which got underway today.
An intensive care nurse in New York the first to receive a COVID-19 shot this morning as the death toll from the virus neared 300,000.
The nurse, Sandra Lindsay, received the Pfizer shot at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens just before 9.30am during a livestream with New York Gov Andrew Cuomo.
However the idea sparked a backlash with many on social media who compared it to Nazi Germany’s use of the Star of David.
Meanwhile others didn’t see the point of having to continue to wear a mask when the vaccine is supposed to provide protection on its own
An intensive care nurse in New York was among the first American to receive the COVID-19 vaccine this morning as shipments of Pfizer’s vaccine arrived at hospitals and pharmacies across the country
‘It didn’t feel any different from taking any other vaccine,’ Lindsay said. ‘I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe.’
The first of the vaccinations were administered on a day where the COVID-19 death toll approached the harrowing 300,000 milestone and cases and hospitalizations posted new record highs.
More than 186,880 new cases were reported on Sunday as the seven-day average hit 211,494, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Hospitalizations climbed to 109,331 with a 106,656 seven-day average.
The number of new deaths on Sunday were at 1,482, bringing the seven-day average to a record high of 2,427. The US is now seeing 300 more fatalities every 24 hours than it was during the previous peak in April.
The death toll across the country is now at 299,163 and infections are now at more than 16.25 million.