Dutch vaccine sceptic and anti-lockdown campaigner dies from coronavirus

Robin Fransman in 2014. Photo: Vera de Kok via Wikimedia Commons
Robin Fransman in 2014. Photo: Vera de Kok via Wikimedia Commons

Economist, vaccine sceptic and anti-lockdown campaigner Robin Fransman, who was one of the initiators of a controversial plan to reopen the Netherlands earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, has died in hospital after picking up the virus at the beginning of this month.

Fransman, 53, was taken into hospital in Amsterdam shortly after saying on Twitter that he had tested positive for the virus.

The organisation he co-founded, Herstel-NL, launched a plan at the end of last year to protect the elderly and people with underlying illnesses, with ‘corona free zones’, meal services and benefits which, they said, would enable the young to have more freedom.

Three of the nine high profile academics and economists who launched the campaign stood down a week later after a storm of criticism.

According to broadcaster NOS and the Parool, Fransman had not been vaccinated but he did say on Twitter he supported vaccination for ‘people who are vulnerable’.

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