Mississippi politician called pediatrician ‘ignorant’ over COVID-19 comments; Twitter users quickly came to her defense
Published 9:50 pm Sunday, August 8, 2021
- A caregiver attends to a sick child at Children's of Mississippi hospital. (file photo, courtesy Children's of Mississippi)
A former Mississippi politician and vocal denier of the seriousness of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic picked a fight on social media over the weekend with an outspoken state pediatrician and response from others coming to her defense was swift.
Failed GOP gubernatorial candidate Robert Foster, a farmer from DeSoto County, took to Twitter Saturday to take a shot at Hattiesburg pediatrician and president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Dr. Anita Henderson.
“How do we have doctors this ignorant?” Foster wrote on Twitter. “Children have a higher risk of being harmed by the seasonal flu than by COVID. Masking them is not only ineffective but pointless.”
Henderson responded by writing:
“Hey (Robert Foster), You spend your days tweeting insults at doctors while we spend ours caring for Mississippians. Wish you could see
(Children’s of Mississippi) and the (pediatric ICU) right now. It’s full of sick kids, scared parents and COVID. Maybe pray for them.”
But almost immediately others fired back in her defense as well.
Another Hattiesburg pediatrician, Dr. Jonathan Shook, challenged Foster to meet the mother of a young girl with COVID-19 who had to be flown to a Jackson children’s hospital.
“I put a kindergartner & her mom on a helicopter yesterday & flew her to the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) in Jackson,” Shook wrote on Twitter. “Would you like to meet her mom there & reassure her that we don’t need masks in schools? Maybe you can explain why high vaccine rates in adults aren’t important to protect kids either!”
I put a kindergartner & her mom on a helicopter yesterday & flew her to the PICU in Jackson. Would you like to meet her mom there & reassure her that we don’t need masks in schools? Maybe you can explain why high vaccine rates in adults aren’t important to protect kids either!
— Jonathan Shook (@jshook601) August 8, 2021
Another user, @EngancheWorld suggested Foster was advocating behavior that was deadly.
“Auditioning for a Netflix Serial murderer series, I see. Chernobyl on the Delta?”
Twitter user @Kekaha_BAB asked, “How many dead children is the right number?”
User @tbrooks67, turned Foster’s words back on him as a question.
“Ignorant? How dare you? You are beyond delusional and need to realize what you are doing is HARMING CHILDREN! please STOP!”
