Anti-vaccine Christian broadcaster Marcus Lamb dies from Covid-19 aged 64 days after wife asked listeners to ‘pray for his lungs to clear’
- Texas-based Daystar Television Network announced Lamb’s death on Tuesday
- Conservative christian network has been a vocal opponent of Covid vaccines
- The broadcaster becomes the latest anti-vaccine radio host to succumb to virus
Anti-vaccine Christian broadcaster Marcus Lamb has died from Covid-19 at the age of 64, his channel announced Tuesday, weeks after contracting the virus.
Lamb was the co-founder and CEO of the Texas-based conservative Christian Daystar Television Network that has been a vocal opponent of coronavirus vaccines.
The broadcaster, who was born in Cordele, Georgia, becomes the latest conservative radio hosts who has publicly shared anti-vaccine views, or views against virus measures, to succumb to Covid-19.
Anti-vaccine Christian broadcaster Marcus Lamb (pictured, file photo) has died from Covid-19 at the age of 64, his channel announced Tuesday, weeks after contracting the virus
‘It’s with a heavy heart we announce that Marcus Lamb, president and founder of Daystar Television Network, went home to be with the Lord this morning,’ the network said in a Tweet posted on Tuesday.
‘The family asks that their privacy be respected as they grieve this difficult loss. Please continue to lift them up in prayer.’
The news of Lamb’s death comes weeks after his son Jonathan Lamb, who filled in for his father during a November 23 show, asked listeners to pray for his father’s recovery.
During the broadcast, Marcus’ wife Joni Lamb called in her husband’s hospital bedside, asking viewers to pray that his lungs clear.
‘It’s like, you’ll just be up and everything’s great, and then you have a little lull, and then you come down low and then you come back up, but from everybody that I talk to — I think that’s the pattern,’ she said over the telephone.
‘We can really feel the prayers of the people. Pray specifically for his lungs to clear the Covid pneumonia and pray for his oxygen level to continue to be strong and to go up so that we can wean him off of oxygen and bring him home,’ she added.
‘It’s with a heavy heart we announce that Marcus Lamb, president and founder of Daystar Television Network, went home to be with the Lord this morning,’ the network said in a Tweet posted on Tuesday, along with a picture of Lamb with his wife Joni
Jonathan Lamb went on to describe his father’s Covid-19 infection as ‘a spiritual attack from the enemy’ to ‘take down’ his father.
The network, worth an estimated $230million, has dedicated hours of broadcasts to an array of anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination activists and groups, according to NBC News.
In July 2020, the Lamb family dedicated an hour of their broadcast to ‘censorship’ in relation to the Covid pandemic, featuring notorious misinformation group America’s Frontline Doctors.
In May this year, Daystar broadcast an hour-long show featuring Robert F. Kennedy Jr,’ whose famous family rebuked his anti-vaccine views as early as May 2019.
Kennedy was recently banned by Instagram for posting Covid vaccine misinformation, and was found in March to be one of 12 Facebook accounts posting around two-thirds of the anti-vaccine social media content.
At least four conservative radio talk-show hosts who shared anti-vaccine and anti-mask sentiments died of the virus in August alone.
Pictured: Marcus Lamb (right) during a broadcast with his son Jonathan (left)
These included 65-year-old Marc Bernier who was self-described as ‘Mr. Anti-Vax’.
Others were Phil Valentine, 61, who was a popular radio host in Tennessee, Jimmy DeYoung, 81, a Christian preacher also based in Tennessee and Dick Farrel, 65, who had worked for a number of radio stations in Miami and Palm Beach, Florida.
In September, conservative Christian radio host and former pastor of Denver Bible Church Bob Enyart died, also after contracting Covid.
Enyart was a staunch opponent of the Coronavirus vaccines and restrictions such as mask mandates.
The radio host and pastor was a controversial figure due to his fierce religious beliefs that led him to ruthlessly criticise the LGBT community, the pro-choice movement, and public health policies.
On his Real Science Radio show, the former pastor had railed against the ‘imagined’ burden of COVID-19 cases on hospitals and offered advice on treating the virus from the Bible before he died.
Also in September, popular podcast host Joe Rogan, who has also downplayed the need for coronavirus vaccines and touted ivermectin as a treatment, also announced he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Vaccines continue to be the safest and most effective protection against the most serious symptoms and outcomes of Covid-19.
Pictured: : A sign at a drug store advertises the COVID-19 vaccine on November 19, 2021 in New York City. On Friday vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention voted unanimously in recommending a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccines for all adults in the United States six months after they finish their first two doses
A study by the CDC in September found vaccines were still largely able to stop hospitalization in people infected by the highly-infectious Delta variant.
A separate study carried out in Britain found that those who are vaccinated are less likely to spread the coronavirus to others if they do become infected.
With the emergence of the potentially even more infectious Omicron variant of concern spreading rapidly in southern Africa, the CDC reinforced its advice about Covid-19 booster jabs on Tuesday, saying all eligible adults should get them.
Meanwhile, Israel’s health chief claimed that people who get a booster Pfizer Covid vaccine or who had their second jab within six months should be highly protected against Omicron.
Without citing any data, Health minister Nitzan Horowitz said on Tuesday that there was ‘room for optimism’ based on ‘initial indications’.
Just hours later, a report by an Israeli news channel claimed the Pfizer jab was 90 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic infection from Omicron, just slightly less than Delta.
Who are the anti-vax radio hosts who died from Covid?
Marc Bernier of station WNDB of Orlando, Florida
Marc Bernier
Bernier was one of the longest-running figures on Daytona talk radio.
He was hospitalized for Covid in early August, and his death was announced on August 29 by his station via social media.
Bernier had labelled himself ‘Mr. Anti-Vax’ on the air in December 2020.
News Daytona Beach said: ‘It’s with great sadness that WNDB and Southern Stone Communications announce the passing of Marc Bernier, who informed and entertained listeners on WNDB for over 30 years.’
Phil Valentine
A talk radio host in Nashville, Valentine told his listeners he was diagnosed with Covid on July 11.
A talk radio host in Nashville, Valentine told his listeners he was diagnosed with Covid on July 11
He died in August after a month-long battle with the virus, and reportedly admitted that he wished he had taken the vaccine sooner.
In a more considered approach, Valentine previously recommended that people with underlying health conditions should get the vaccine, but claimed that low-risk people are ‘probably safer not getting it’.
WTN Radio said: ‘We are saddened to report that our host and friend Phil Valentine has passed away. Please keep the Valentine family in your thoughts and prayers.’
Dick Farrell
Florida radio host Farrell was among the harshest critics of the vaccine on the airwaves.
On July 1, Farrell claimed that two people he knew who had received the vaccine were later hospitalized
On July 1, he claimed that two people he knew who had received the vaccine were later hospitalized.
‘Vaccine Bogus Bull Shid!, Two peeps I know, got vaxxed, now have Corona, hospitalized critical. Thank you Moderna, FOR NOTHING!’
One of Farrell’s friends, Amy Leigh Hair, posted on Facebook after his death in early August that Farrell had warned her to get the vaccine after he was hospitalized.
‘Covid Took One Of My Best Friends! RIP Dick Farrell. He is the reason I took the shot! He texted me and told me to ‘Get it!’ He told me that this virus is no joke and he said: ‘I wish I had gotten it!’ she said.
Bob Enyart
Conservative Christian radio host and former pastor of Denver Bible Church Bob Enyart died on Monday aged 62 after contracting Covid on September 1
Conservative Christian radio host and former pastor of Denver Bible Church Bob Enyart died aged 62 from Covid.
Enyart was a staunch opponent of the Coronavirus vaccines and restrictions such as mask mandates, and is the latest in a string of anti-vax radio hosts to die from Covid in recent weeks.
The radio host and pastor was a controversial figure due to his fierce religious beliefs that led him to ruthlessly criticise the LGBT community, the pro-choice movement, and public health policies.
On his Real Science Radio show, the former pastor had railed against the ‘imagined’ burden of COVID-19 cases on hospitals and offered advice on treating the virus from the Bible before he died.
Enyart’s friend and co-host of the show Fred Williams announced his death on Facebook on Monday in a now-deleted post.
‘It comes with an extremely heavy heart that my close friend and co-host of Real Science Radio has lost his battle with COVID,’ said Williams.
Enyart gained notoriety in the 90s via his TV show Bob Enyart Live, on which he would regularly read out the obituaries of deceased men who had died from AIDS, labelling them as sodomites and playing Queen’s ‘Another One Bites The Dust’.
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