The conflation of inoculation terminology with a non-inoculation process likely only adds to these confusing, potentially dangerous, public statements on health from a religious leader.

Josh Compton

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15348423.2019.1696122

In the midst of a particularly difficult, deadly flu season, Gloria Copeland – televangelist, co-founder of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, and member of President Trump’s faith advisory council – seemed to suggest that flu shots were unnecessary to protect against influenza, and instead, one should “inoculate yourself with the word of God.” This paper examines Copeland’s inoculation rhetoric through the lens of inoculation theory and finds that Copeland’s rhetoric was both consistent and inconsistent. She neither promoted flu shots nor used inoculation as a rhetorical device, but she did claim to be advocating inoculation of a different type.

Compton, J. (2019). “Inoculate yourself with the word of God”: Persuasion inoculation, medical inoculation, and religious rhetoric. Journal of Media and Religion, 18(4), 115-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348423.2019.1696122