--- title: "Elon Musk Goes on Paranoid Rant About Vaccines" description: "In an unhinged Twitter tirade on Thursday, Musk argued that \"if you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny.\"" date: "2022-01-28" modified: "2022-01-28" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-rant-vaccines" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid19" - "elon musk" - "tesla semis" - "vaccines" --- # Elon Musk Goes on Paranoid Rant About Vaccines ![In an unhinged Twitter tirade on Thursday, Musk argued that "if you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny."]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* This week, Canadian truckers [led a convoy]() through the province of Ontario to protest against mandatory COVID vaccines. It's true that Canadian truckers have [spent years battling terrible working conditions](), but it's unfortunate that they're focusing their anger at vaccines, which are an [extremely effective way]() to not die from COVID. And in any case, all that nuance seems to be lost on Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who went on a Twitter tirade Thursday that was unhinged [even by his standards](). "If you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom," he [tweeted](). "This is the path to tyranny." "Canadian truckers rule," he added in a separate tweet. "Freedom is being stripped away one piece at a time until it is gone." The sentiment may be a thinly veiled attempt to curry favor with his car company's future customers. On Wednesday, ahead of the company's quarterly earnings call, Tesla [unveiled]() a fleet of new "Tesla Semi" electric trucks. Ironically, though, Musk is also leading the charge to ensure truckers will soon be out of a job, [pushing for fully autonomous technologies]() that could soon replace human truckers behind the wheel. It's far from the first time Musk has ranted about "freedom" and spread dubious information about COVID. In March 2020, he called for an [end to local lockdowns]() designed to protect the health and safety of workers during the early stages of the pandemic. At the time, lockdowns forced his factory in the Bay Area to close down — a dent in his bottom line that had Musk lashing out. That [defying of lockdowns]() ended in numerous Tesla factory workers catching the coronavirus, as [reports]() later revealed. Musk has also repeatedly played into vaccine hesitancy narratives, [publicly casting doubt]() on their effectiveness. To the billionaire CEO, officials are vastly overplaying the severity of the situation — despite COVID-related deaths [topping charts this week](). During his rant on Thursday, Musk again played into paranoid conspiracy theories about officials overestimating the pandemic's death toll, [tweeting]() that it "seems odd that the UN still hasn’t released 2020 world death rates." The reality is that highly effective vaccines have been available for many months, yet thousands of Americans are succumbing to the virus, most of whom are [still unvaccinated](). "Those who remain unvaccinated are at significantly higher risk for infection and severe COVID-19 disease," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky [reiterated in a statement]() last week. Boosters are also proving [highly effective]() at reducing the risk of hospitalization. In short, publicly protesting the rollout of vaccine mandates will only ensure that the number of COVID-related deaths remains high. And Musk has decided to throw his full weight behind just that — though, as always, his motivations remain murky. **READ MORE:** [Trucker convoy against vaccine mandates rolls through Ontario en route to Ottawa]() \[*CBC*\] ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()