‘Angry and emotional’: survey shows half of Japan’s health experts faced threats, abuse during Covid-19

Threats included office damage, slashed car tyres, letters with box-cutter blades, and messages about ‘crazy ideas’ and conspiracy theories

With 80 per cent of experts targeted reportedly feeling psychologically and emotionally affected, scientists say better safety measures are needed

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Dr Shigeru Omi, chairman of the Japanese government’s advisory panel on the pandemic, attends an online news conference in Tokyo, Japan, in June 2021. Omi was among the health experts who were targeted. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00am, 17 May 2024

Around half of the scientists and experts brought in to manage the Japanese government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic were the target of threats, criticisms or accusations from the public, with at least two physically menaced, according to a recent scientific paper.

The study examined public reactions to experts who appeared in the media between February 2020 and March 2021 and found that scientists had received death threats or threats of physical or sexual violence.

The research was carried out by a team led by Mikihito Tanaka, a professor at the Faculty of Political Economics and Science at Waseda University, and paralleled similar studies in other countries. It also determined that 80 per cent of the experts who were the target of attacks felt psychological and emotional impacts.

Dr Shigeru Omi, a former regional director of the World Health Organization and chairman of the government’s advisory panel on the pandemic, had the outside of his office damaged in an attack with a shovel.

People wearing face masks walk in Nagoya, Japan, during the Covid-19 outbreak in February 2021. Photo: Kyodo

Professor Hiroshi Nishimura, an epidemiologist at Kyoto University and another high-profile expert in the fight against the virus, received a letter in the post containing a box-cutter blade and had the tyres of his car slashed.

‘Angry and emotional’: survey shows half of Japan’s health experts faced threats, abuse during Covid-19

Threats included office damage, slashed car tyres, letters with box-cutter blades, and messages about ‘crazy ideas’ and conspiracy theories With 80 per cent of experts targeted reportedly feeling psychologically and emotionally affected, scientists say better safety measures are needed

Threats included office damage, slashed car tyres, letters with box-cutter blades, and messages about ‘crazy ideas’ and conspiracy theories

With 80 per cent of experts targeted reportedly feeling psychologically and emotionally affected, scientists say better safety measures are needed