Covid-19: how photos of an American mother accidentally become anti-vax propaganda

Warning: graphic image below

An American woman has suffered a “living nightmare” after an effort to raise funds for medical bills turned into a campaign against vaccination.

Patricia Chandler, from the US state of Texas, participated in a trial of the Covid-19 vaccine and subsequently contracted a foot infection.

However, he was never given a real Covid-19 vaccine as he had been in the placebo group of the trial.

Chandler developed an unexplained skin condition on his foot after the trial ended in October, the BBC reported.

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Due to the medical bills involved with recovering from the painful foot infection, Chandler’s cousin created a fundraising page to raise funds to cover the expenses.

The photos used on the fundraising page of the blisters on his foot were later picked up by anti-vaccines who shared them on social media as propaganda.

The photos of his foot were shared by an influential anti-vaccine, according to the BBC, and then further shared by a website promoting vaccine conspiracy theories.

Not only has he had physical pain due to the blisters on his foot, but he has also been subjected to online harassment.

“What I do know is that it has been very, very painful. It has been a living nightmare,” he said in an updated video on his fundraising page.

“I’ve been bullied and bullied, cyber bullied. It’s been so easy for you guys to sit behind a keyboard and be ugly.”

It is not yet clear how Chandler got the blisters on his foot, but after seeing a podiatrist, the doctor told Chandler that he had a fixed drug rash, which is an allergic reaction to medications.