Man whose family died of Covid after refusing jab receives death threats from anti-vaxxers

11 August 2021, 21:12 | Updated: 11 August 2021, 22:50

Man who lost family to Covid-19 sent death threats

A man who lost his mother, father and brother to Covid-19 has told LBC he has been sent death threats by anti-vaxxers after he told his story to try to encourage more people to get the jab.

Francis Goncalves, from Cardiff, lost his brother, Shaul, 40, father Basil, 73, and mother Charmagne, 65 to the virus. They all refused to take the jab after watching anti-vaccine propaganda.

They died after they started to feel unwell on the weekend of July 10 after having a meal together.

Francis said his family did not ever get vaccinated because they had been scared by anti-vaccination "misinformation" and that he has now been bombarded with vile messages, death threats, and has been accused of lying about their deaths.

READ MORE: Anti-vaxx mother, father and brother die of Covid-19 within a week of each other

On Sunday August 1, they were buried next to each other at a cemetery in Lisbon where a section is dedicated to covid-related deaths.

He said he hopes sharing their story will encourage other people to get the jab and not listen to anti-vaccination propaganda.

Francis, 43, told LBC today of the abuse and death threats he’d received online from anti-vaccine campaigners.

He said: “People are saying they wish I’d catch the ‘fake’ virus and die from the ‘fake’ virus. They wish I would die from the vaccine.”

He said he’d been sent sarcastic messages from anti-vaxxers saying the vaccine would make him ‘immortal’

“It goes on and on really," he added.

“Other ones are that you’re fake, you’re making up a story." Heartbroken Francis said the abuse he'd received “dehumanises” the memory of his family.

"They accuse you of things without having a single iota of evidence against you," he said.

“Everything’s fake news that opposes their thought process or their opinion which is completely absent of fact.

“I’ve had people saying that I’m fake, my brother is fake, my mother is fake, my father is fake,. I am just an actor that is put there to create propaganda.

“It is upsetting. It does make you angry because your family deserve more.

“They don’t want the truth because it goes against everything they want to push out there.

“So many of these people run their own blogs and all they’re interested in is engagement.

He said when people try to say his story isn’t real it “pushes him on harder” to get the message out there for people to get jabbed.

“Every once in a while I do get upset because my family deserve more,” he said.

He said he could see how anyone could get caught up in anti-vaccine messaging.

“My parents had myself and my brother vaccinated against everything when we were children.

“They’ve supported the vaccination process for years to the point where we would have the flu vaccine every year.

“My family deserve more. People need to stop spreading the propaganda."

After their deaths Francis told Wales Online: “You're just gritting your teeth and pushing through and if you manage to get a pause, it becomes a flood of emotion.”

He said his family “gave everything” to give his family a good life, his mother was a “mother hen” who would do anything for the family and his brother was his “best friend.”

After their deaths he also posted videos online pleading for people not to be taken in by anti-vaccine propaganda.

In one clip, he said: “What I see is a lot of fear, what I see is a lot of concern over the possibilities of these things being real.

“Believe me I’m pretty sure a lot of people that have been vaccinated have considered the negative options that the propaganda has shoved at them.

“I’m going to call it propaganda because that’s what it is."