Bartolomeo Pepe (3 November 1962 – 23 December 2021) was an Italian politician.

Biography

A member of the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...

and then the

Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens ( it, Federazione dei Verdi, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens. T ...

, he served in the Senate of the Republic from 2013 to 2018. An avowed

anti-vaxxer Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...

, Pepe vocally opposed the mandatory vaccination of schoolchildren in Italy, supported the idea of a link between

vaccines and autism Extensive investigation into vaccines and autism has shown that there is no relationship between the two, causal or otherwise, and that the vaccine ingredients do not cause it. Vaccinologist Peter Hotez researched the growth of the false claim a ...

, and spread a number of conspiracy theories, such as the ones regarding

chemtrails The chemtrail conspiracy theory is the erroneous belief that long-lasting condensation trails are "chemtrails" consisting of chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic prope ...

. After the outbreak of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he called the media coverage and containment measures "ridiculous hysteria" and opposed the subsequent vaccination campaign. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on 23 December 2021, at the age of 59.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepe, Bartolomeo 1962 births 2021 deaths Senators of Legislature XVIII of Italy Politicians from Naples Five Star Movement politicians Federation of the Greens politicians Italian anti-vaccination activists Anti-vaccination activist deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Campania