Stephan Kesting is a well-known BJJ black belt, whose Youtube channel has accrued millions of views and has just about any technique you can imagine. However, what a lot of people don’t know is that he has an academic background in biology – as well as that he’s a firefighter!
With these two combined, it’s easy to understand why Kesting is such an outspoken supporter of the COVID-19 vaccine. Throughout the pandemic he’s used his social media presence to showcase the science behind the virus; and is now using those same channels to encourage his followers to take the vaccine.

Here’s one of his recent posts when it comes to COVID-19 and science:

 

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It seems like almost every BJJ and MMA guy is going full anti-vaxx and I can’t begin to express how distressing this is 🙁
If we had had social media in the 1950s and this level of malicious disinformation then we would still have polio, smallpox and measles in North America (oh wait, measles is making a comeback thanks to the anti-vaxx crowd).

I’m posting this article (published by Nature, one of the two most prestigious scientific journals in the world) and linking to it in my bio because it disproves quite a few of the anti-vaxx talking points

First of all, noticed that it was published in 2018, BEFORE Covid. Meaning that mRNA vaccines were already on the cusp of availability before this pandemic.
Secondly, it talks about the animal mRNA vaccine trials done in the 1990s and the human mRNA trials that started in 2008. So much for the whole “this is brand new untested technology” argument.

Third, please note that about 600 authors and 200 papers are cited in the references and only ONE of them (from 1989) was written by RW Malone (and that with the help of two other people). So much for RW Malone being the “inventor” of mRNA vaccines.

I do not think that this will change the minds of most anti-vaxxers because for them it’s about ideology and not facts.
None of this is in my financial best interest. If I was smart I would just keep my mouth shut, but given my background as a research biologist and being blessed/cursed with a large social media following it would be unethical to stay silent.

I fully expect to be swarmed by the fanatics for this post. And I fully expect 99% of the attacks to have NOTHING to do with the article I just linked to, because pivoting to brand new accusations instead of good faith debate is just what they do folks.
As of right now I have 56,010 followers on Instagram; let’s see how many remain by nightfall.

If you hate lockdowns and if you have some compassion for other people then, for the love of God, stop sharing misinformation and get vaccinated.

Therefore, Kesting will speak at a public webinar which is hosted by Texas Tech University – today (September 15). Alongside the University’s Social Epidemiologist Dr. Jeff Dennis, they will speak about science denialism and vaccine hesitancy, as well as about the prevalence of both things in the martial arts.
You can register for the webinar on this link.