PROFILE: Anders Tegnell, Former Swedish State Epidemiologist
Deconstructing the "Swedeaboo" Mythology
CORRECTION 03.13.2024: A minor translation error required a correction regarding Anders Tegnell’s relationship with social media conspiracy theorist Ivor “FatEmperor” Cummins. You can read it here.
The power of mythology lies within its vast distance from our reality. For a long time now, “weeaboo” has been a derogatory term typically referring to a white American with an unhealthy obsession of a fictionalized version of Japan informed by manga, anime, and a superficial consumerist understanding of a country they’ve never visited.
From very early in the pandemic, American media was soon overwhelmed with the emergence of the “Swedeaboo:” an unscientific crank who fetishized a fictionalized ideal of the Swedish response to SARS-CoV-2 and their alleged “do nothing” approach, whilst having never been to Sweden, speaking an ounce of Swedish, having any understanding of Swedish politics or culture, or even thinking about Sweden in any serious capacity prior to the spring of 2020. The belief was that Sweden kept schools open, did not take any COVID-19 precautions, and suffered minimal disruption. This is an entirely fictional claim, as Dr. Jonathan Howard explains in an article titled “Yes, Schools Were Closed in Sweden.”
At the core of this Swedeboo mythology lies a central figure: Swedish state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, who is now in 2024 marketing himself as some sort of public health speaker, peddling a lecture titled "DARING TO STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN: When the Whole World Went Mad," regarding a global response to a single virus that, The Economist with 95% certainty estimates, killed over 30 million people in just a few short years. The use of mental health to stigmatize the rest of the world and elevate oneself as some sort of hero, as a cheap marketing gimmick, only speaks to the level of dishonest narcissism that Anders Tegnell practices.
From 2020 to now, referencing Anders Tegnell’s own words and the reality of what actually happened in Sweden, you will find nothing more than a dishonest, unqualified liar who intentionally refused his responsibilities to the Swedish people, and instead chose to parade around for the validation of unscientific, far-right conspiracy theorists. In this mythology of a “post-pandemic” era, Anders Tegnell is now seeking to cash in on this record of objective failure on the speaking circuit.
Out of respect to the people of Sweden, many of these sources are in Swedish and I offer my humble apologies regarding any translation errors. That’s the sort of respect that Anders Tegnell has never had for his fellow Swede.
2020
March 6th, 2020 - Great Barrington Declaration founder and Harvard academic Martin Kulldorff emails Anders Tegnell:
“Anders, Johan,
Thank you for your wise epidemiological sane Covid-19 work. Not only important to Sweden, but as a model for the rest of the world.”
This “wise epidemiological sane Covid-19 work” was to pursue "herd immunity" via mass infection of SARS-CoV-2, a response which was never considered regarding outbreaks of the original SARS outbreak in 2002-2004. A month later, Martin would take out an op-ed in right-wing outlet Spiked Online demeaning those who refused infection as unscientific "anti-herders."
March 14th, 2020 - Anders Tegnell writes via e-Mail: “"One point in favor of keeping schools open is that we would reach herd immunity faster" via the mass infection of unvaccinated children, their families, and educators.
March 15th, 2020 - In another e-Mail, Anders Tegnell writes:
"Option 1: 4 weeks lockdown
Option 2: track, trace, quarantine
Option 3: let the virus spread to achieve an hypothetical herd immunity...We evaluated all options and ultimately chose option n.3"
March 17th, 2020: Anders Tegnell declares "Herd immunity before vaccine is inevitable, basically no matter what we do to prevent it."
March 18th, 2020: "Anders Tegnell praises British idea of herd immunity: 'Where we need to go.'" This approach was an objective failure and forced the implementation of multiple lockdowns, getting many British people killed.
It’s very apparent that in March 2020, Anders Tegnell as Swedish State Epidemiologist demanded the mass infection of the pubic, and especially children, with a new virus that would not only kill, but also cripple many - as informed by publicly available research that was published in 2010 regarding the original 2002-04 SARS-CoV-1 outbreak. The Swedish fantasy was that by mass infecting an unvaccinated public, society would face minimal disruption and the virus would simply go away on its own by feeding it millions of bodies to replicate and evolve. In other words, a childish fantasy instead of grounded, science-based epidemiology.
Tegnell would only double down on his pitiful fantasy going forward at the cost of many lives and the health of the Swedish public.
April 16th, 2020: "Tegnell: "There may be herd immunity in Stockholm in May" (Expressen)
April 19th, 2020: "Anger in Sweden as elderly pay price for coronavirus strategy: Staff with no masks or sanitiser fear for residents as hundreds die in care homes" (The Guardian)
April 28th, 2020: "Swedish official Anders Tegnell says 'herd immunity' in Sweden might be a few weeks away" (USA Today) - Stateside in America, wealthy interests used Sweden’s mass infection fantasy to justify their lobbying against any sort of public health response.
May 24th, 2020: “"Sweden 'wrong' not to shut down, says former state epidemiologist - Scientist who oversaw the response to [SARS-CoV-1] says country has failed the vulnerable" (The Guardian)
July 24th, 2020: For right-wing outlet Unherd, Anders Tegnell takes out an anti-mask opinion editorial, titled: "Why we aren’t wearing masks in Sweden Anders Tegnell, architect of a unique response to the pandemic, defends his approach"
September 16th, 2020: Anders Tegnell (Correction: 03/14/2024) exchanges correspondence shares a Youtube video by Ivor "FatEmperor" Cummins, an unscientific far-right anti-vax conspiracy theorist on social media, revealed next January 17th, 2021, in which they agree "we should continue to expose the population to this infection in the right dose.'' What exactly is the “right dose” of a deadly and disabling virus, exactly? This is never answered. This is the beginning of a disturbing trend: Anders Tegnell would rather entertain far-right extremists instead of hardworking scientific researchers and medical doctors.
September 20th, 2020: Twitter user "Jocami_Ca" posts a comprehensive breakdown of Ivor "FatEmperor" Cummin's many failed predictions about COVID-19. Instead of the actual science, Sweden’s state epidemiologist would rather entertain the chronically incorrect charlatans of conspiracy theorist social media. This grave betrayal of the Swedish people, and refusal to take professional responsibilities seriously, should have been grounds for immediate dismissal, at bare minimum.
September 22nd, 2020: Anders Tegnell claims a video from far-right conspiracy theorist Ivor "FatEmperor" Cummins is a credible source of scientific information (Dagens Nyheter)
October 27th, 2020: Tegnell claims a massive surge in in COVID-19 cases will not become Sweden's "Second Wave."
November 12th, 2020: "Surge in Covid cases tests Sweden’s go-it-alone approach" (Financial Times) Richard Milne writes: "Do not judge Sweden until the autumn. That was the message from its state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell in May and through the summer as he argued that Sweden’s initial high death toll from Covid-19 would be followed in the second wave by “a high level of immunity and the number of cases will probably be quite low. Now the autumn is here, and hospitalizations from Covid-19 are currently rising faster in Sweden than in any other country in Europe..."
Meanwhile, in Swedish media outlet Omni, Anders Tegnell would deny that SARS-CoV-2 is an airborne virus, an objective scientific fact. He goes on to do this multiple times over the next year, even when the scientific consensus is overwhelming against yet another of his preposterous, fictional claims.
November 16th, 2020: The Guardian publishes the headline: “Sweden limits public gatherings to eight people amid Covid surge” This means that yet again, Anders Tegnell was wrong. This is also technically a lockdown, according to the pro-viral Swedeaboo’s definition of “lockdown” being any form of non-pharmaceutical intervention or government public health mandate, which means that yes, Sweden technically “failed” in their public health response by the standards of the viral Swedeaboo uses to judge the rest of the world.
November 19th, 2020: “Principals close schools around the country after covid outbreak” (Dagens Nyheter)
November 23rd, 2020: “Covid at over 100 primary schools in Gothenburg…three schools are introducing distance learning” (Goteborgs-Posten)
November 26th, 2020: “Continued flexible schooling at Hogalund School for grades 4-5…Due to the fact that the school has lower staffing than usual, measures need to be implemented.”
December 14th, 2020: “New announcement: distance for all children at Gamla Uppsala school…because many of the staff are ill.” (SVT)
December 17th, 2020: The King of Sweden blasts country's failed coronavirus response (The Guardian) - "I think we have failed. We have a large number who have died, and that is terrible."
December 18th, 2020: “The entire teaching team affected by covid-19 at Helsingborg School…students in year 6 have had to switch to a special form of distance learning.” (SVT)
The end of the first year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic established a pattern of behavior for Anders Tegnell, and revealed that Sweden’s state epidemiologist had more loyalty to far-right quacks on social media than the people of Sweden, getting many of them killed as human sacrifice for Tegnell’s fantasy.
2021
![From Wikipedia: "Vaccination against COVID-19 in Sweden started on 27 December 2020 after the approval of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine by the European Commission.[2][3][4] In Sweden, the Public Health Agency has been commissioned by the government to create a vaccination plan.[5] Sveriges riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, predicts that efficient vaccination against COVID-19 has macroeconomic benefits.[6] As of 20 April 2022, 87.1% of people (12 years and older) in Sweden have received at least one dose, with a total of 21,491,717 doses administered.[1] At least one vaccine has been approved for all age groups 12 and older. Children younger than 12 in high risk groups can also be vaccinated."](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe4df8ddd-5caa-40ed-af08-faa2862dfae8_866x395.png "From Wikipedia: \"Vaccination against COVID-19 in Sweden started on 27 December 2020 after the approval of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine by the European Commission.[2][3][4] In Sweden, the Public Health Agency has been commissioned by the government to create a vaccination plan.[5] Sveriges riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, predicts that efficient vaccination against COVID-19 has macroeconomic benefits.[6] As of 20 April 2022, 87.1% of people (12 years and older) in Sweden have received at least one dose, with a total of 21,491,717 doses administered.[1] At least one vaccine has been approved for all age groups 12 and older. Children younger than 12 in high risk groups can also be vaccinated.\"")
With the global rollout of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in late 2020, an overwhelming majority of the Swedish people would get the COVID-19 vaccine, further refuting Anders Tegnell’s fantasy of herd immunity via mass infection of an unvaccinated population. Sadly, Anders Tegnell would only double down on his obscene crusade to become a household name known for contrarian epidemiology.
February 5th, 2021: “Distance learning for younger students in Svenstavik” (Sverige Radio) and “School closes due to increased spread of Infection” (Nt)
February 17th, 2021: “Distance learning for junior high school - Vanersborg municipality”
March 12th, 2021: “In primary school, cases have doubled and many children are homeschooled.” (Svenska Dagbladet)
April 28th, 2021: “This is how distance learning works for 9-year-olds in Hedemora…Hedemora municiplaity has recently been hit had by corona infection. It is also noticeable at Stureskolan, where last week all students from F-class to grade 6 were sent home due to infection in the classes.” (SVT)
May 7th, 2021: “The middle school at Bokenas school continues with distance learning…a large percentage of the school’s staff is absent due to the coronavirus.”
May 23rd, 2021: Tegnell's "colleague," Ivor "FatEmperor" Cummins, is the subject of a brutal takedown on Velvet Glove, Iron Fist by Christopher J. Snowdon regarding his countless delusions regarding COVID-19. Again, this is who Anders Tegnell would converse with regarding the science of SARS-CoV-2, whilst serving the Swedish public as State epidemiologist. This recklessly unscientific betrayal is frankly criminal.
September 23rd, 2021: For right-wing outlet Unherd, which also publishes unscientific quacks such as UCSF’s Vinay Prasad and life coach Allison Krug (who demanded the mass infection of unvaccinated American children with COVID-19) Anders Tegnell takes out another masturbatory OpEd, titled: “Sweden won the argument on COVID." Tegnell claims that their do-nothing approach and the abandonment of public health during the outbreaks of 2020 saved more lives than America’s dreaded lockdowns.
This is the incredibly deceptive and manipulative argument that Swedeaboos love to tout: that it’s public health mandates which kills people, not COVID-19. In reality, the general health of the Swedish population in March 2020, compared to that of the United States, is on average much stronger because of a significant influence of numerous public health interventions, such as a single-payer healthcare system and the food safety regulations provided by being a member of the European Union. In contrast, America’s privatized healthcare system - which incentivizes the public to avoid the hospital out of fear of taking on crippling debt - and the amount of artificial processed garbage the government lets private corporations put into our food supply, made for a population that is much more susceptible to bad outcomes of COVID-19.
October 30th, 2021: Sweden's independent Coronavirus Commission releases their report on the government's handling of the pandemic: "Sweden’s pandemic preparedness was inadequate." and more importantly: "Existing communicable diseases legislation was and is inadequate to respond to a serious epidemic or pandemic outbreak." Thus, Sweden debunks Anders Tegnell’s claim that he “won the argument on COVID.”
This should have been the end of Tegnell’s story and the tragic death of this absurd Swedeaboo mythology, as the Winter 2021-22 season would be a global disaster for COVID-19 deaths caused not by lockdowns, but instead the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Unfortunately, Tegnell’s tale only grows more bizarre going forward into 2022.
2022
March 9th, 2022: Reuters publishes a stunning headline: “Architect of Sweden's light-touch COVID response gets job at WHO,” claiming:
“Tegnell, whose almost daily news conferences had Swedes glued to their screens for much of the pandemic, will become a senior expert at a WHO group tasked with coordinating the COVID vaccine response between health and vaccine organizations.”
Weird, right? Should someone who is compromised by social media conspiracy theorists be taking a senior, critical role at the World Health Organization? Wouldn’t you prefer the world’s health be safeguarded by grounded scientific experts, instead of charlatans that parade their delusions in right-wing rags in service of a deadly and disabling virus that has killed and crippled millions? Don’t worry, because there’s a twist to this story!
On a side note, Reuters claims “Some people even got Tegnell tattoos.” Uhhh… what?
March 14th, 2022: Twitter user “bjornpiltz” debunks the claim that Sweden had the third lowest excess mortality in Europe during 2020-2021, using manipulated data. In fact, "Sweden had several times more Covid deaths than neighboring countries." This is an important question: should the World Health Organization be staffed by liars?
March 22nd, 2022: “Confusion about Tegnell: his new job doesn't exist - At WHO, there is confusion and surprise about Anders Tegnell's new assignment at WHO, something that the Public Health Agency of Sweden announced two weeks ago. No post has been set, say spokespersons at the WHO.” (Svenska Dagbladet)
Wait, what the frak? Anders Tegnell left his role as State Epidemologist to take a job at the WHO, which the WHO didn’t even know existed? Don’t worry, this story only gets weirder, but let’s double back on Tegnell’s record as Swedish State Epidemiologist.
March 31st 2022: Stateside, the LA Times publishes an article by Michael Hiltzik, titled: “Did Sweden beat the pandemic by refusing to lock down? No, its record is disastrous”, in which it is revealed, and strap in for this whammy:
"Elderly people were administered morphine instead of oxygen despite available supplies, effectively ending their lives, Life saving treatment was withheld without medical examination & without informing the patient or his/her family or asking permission."
Under state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, Sweden was actually murdering COVID-19 patients, instead of treating their illness. There are no words or excuses that could possibly justify or defend this course of action or this indisputable failure of a pandemic response. Countless statements from public figures such as journalist Zaid Jilani, to Great Barrington Declaration academics Martin Kulldorff and Jay Bhattacharya, to expelled anti-vax medical student Kevin Bass, to political candidate Matt Strauss, to UCSF’s Vinay Prasad, to Alasdair Munro - all publicly endorsed Sweden’s COVID-19 response of indisputable murder. None of these people should be public figures - they are sadistic, dishonest cranks who have publicly endorsed state-sanctioned murder and should be treated as such.
May 4th, 2022: “Swedish officials with good contacts at the WHO were the driving force behind Anders Tegnell's intended assignment as vaccine advisor. When the plans were stopped, they tried to influence the process through direct contacts with the WHO's top executive, according to SvD's review.” (Svenska Dagbladet) - This is a whopper of a report. Two Swedish officials lobbied to place Anders Tegnell into the World Health Organization, for a role paid for by the Swedish government. When the WHO requested alternative candidates to Tegnell, negotiations fell apart as these officials attempted to force him through the hiring process.
Which is strange, isn’t it? If Sweden had such an amazing COVID-19 response, wouldn’t its architect Anders Tegnell have a leading role at the WHO as a senior vaccine advisor, something that the Sweden people didn’t need after developing “herd immunity” via mass infection of COVID-19 in 2020? Ah, wait. None of the facts support the mythology of Anders Tegnell “when the whole world went mad.”
September 23, 2022: Doubling down on his habit of consorting with anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists, Tegnell appears on anti-vax outlet “The Daily Sceptic” which features the motto “Question everything. Stay sane. Live free.” Why would the WHO ever consider employing a vaccine advisor who so frequently entertains anti-vax conspiracy theorists? This delusion that flat-earthers make the best aerospace engineers keeping happening again and again.
December 08th 2022: At The Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics, Anders Tegnell makes a preposterous and entirely fictional claim: “the precautionary principle [of public health] is about doing as little as possible.”
It would not take more than a few weeks for yet another one of Anders Tegnell’s preposterous claims to be immediately rebuked by his home nation of Sweden.
2023
February 15th, 2023: Swedish insurance company If reports "one in three young adults feel they have brain fog,” aka brain damage as a result of being infected with a disease that has been linked to all sorts of cognitive and neurological damage. “According to the National Board of Health and Welfare, the most common symptoms registered in Sweden's patient register are problems with lung function or breathing, brain fatigue or cognitive impairment, and pain.”
In other words, Anders Tegnell’s claim that it was important to do “as little as possible” is objectively false, his time as Sweden’s State Epidemiologist was an objective failure, and Sweden is facing a population that is now much weaker with countless chronic health issues and long-term complications. Any serious adult would recognize this to be an indisputable failure.
March 10th, 2023: Twitter user “AnnikaTyckerAtt” compiles an exhaustive compilation of schools going remote or closing due to COVID-19 outbreaks, refuting the Swedeaboo claim that Sweden “kept schools open.” Education was frequently disrupted due to staggering amounts of illness.
March 23, 2023: British anti-vax quack Allison Pearson of UsForThem for The Telegraph interviews Anders Tegnell, claiming “‘Lockdown was never on the agenda in Sweden - While the world’s governments pushed crippling Covid restrictions on their people, one nation – and one man – stood apart.” The mythology of Anders Tegnell, years removed from the initial COVID-19 outbreaks, is fully rebranded as a contrarian hero wrapped in utterly fictional myth.
November 19, 2023: "The Swedish Left Failed the Vulnerable During the Pandemic" (Jacobin) - "Brazil’s right-wing, authoritarian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis, and Donald Trump’s former pandemic advisor Scott Atlas are just a few of the many right-wingers who have praised Sweden’s response." Pathological liars praise a fellow pathological liar, essentially.
December 12th, 2023: Sweden's new state epidemiologist declares "the majority of COVID deaths are not a tragedy,” an utterly eugenicist and delusional claim. Unfortunately, it seems that Sweden’s public health establishment has spontaneously combusted and salted the earth, leaving millions of Swedes much more susceptible to future pandemics going forward. A sacrifice of health all to entertain one man’s pitiful, unscientific delusions championed by far-right extremists.
At this point, Anders Tegnell’s story is essentially over, his connection to reality fully severed, and he has surrounded himself with a global following of easily deluded right-wing contrarians that will never challenge his preposterous claims. All it took was the lives and health of countless Swedes for Tegnell to become a celebrity contrarian.
2024
January 2nd, 2024: Appearing before the United Kingdom’s COVID inquiry, Anders Tegnell proceeds to lie under oath - a serious criminal offense:
To what extent did Sweden adopt a herd immunity strategy?
A: Not at all, such a strategy does not really exist.
This directly contradicts his own words in 2020, claiming the mass infection of unvaccinated children with COVID-19 would achieve herd immunity.
Feb. 14th 2024: Tegnell launches his 45-minute lecture grift: "Tegnell is now offering talks on how to stand firm on your opinion while avoiding to get influenced from “the world who went mad”
Feb. 16th 2024: Anders Tegnell wrote and released a book, “Thoughts After A Pandemic,” about his time as Swedish state epidemiologist in 2020, and is reviewed in Swedish media by Markus Balázs Göransson: "A person who completely shamelessly lies" - which is an objective, indisputable fact. Balázs writes:
"Tegnell spends three pages speculating that foreign-born's "big parties [...]" fueled the infection at the beginning of the pandemic (pp. 66-9) but does not say a word that he himself gave the thumbs up to Melodifestivalen be carried out with tens of thousands of people in the audience in March 2020" - "Swedish journalists have generally refrained from checking his claims against other sources and have instead cited them as automatically reliable information. Now this subservience is visible in the reporting of his book."
A pretty damning evaluation of Tegnell’s countless failures, racist bigotry, and how Swedish media has openly embraced his revisionist history.
Feb. 24th 2024: Swedish twitter user “Permoman” writes:
"Tegnell proudly admits that he has never done a RAT/been tested for COVID-19, and we would never have known if it wasn't for an 11-year-old kid on a "work experience day" as a journalist. The funny/sad thing is, he did more journalism in one day than any journalist in 4 years."
How embarrassing to the Swedish media establishment, and what a staggering reveal by Tegnell: that as Swedish state epidemiologist, he refused to protect himself and others from an airborne, deadly & disabling socially transmitted virus, refusing his responsibility as a public health official - even in the darkest parts of 2020.
In closing, Anders Tegnell is an objective failure who, drunk on fantasies and corrupted by social media conspiracy theorists, utterly betrayed the Swedish people for his own personal gain. Tegnell himself subconsciously knows this, because he frequently and regularly lies in public to cover for his own flaws. As the global right wing is built upon elaborate fictions and exploitative delusions, it’s no surprise that they’ve embraced him with open arms, and Tegnell has left the world of epidemiology to become yet another pathetic grifter peddling elaborate fictions.
The “Swedeaboo” cult that Tegnell has cultivated and fed will have a reprehensible effect on public health efforts around the globe, as they rabidly demand that children be drowned face-first in whatever new pathogen may emerge in our future.
Perhaps one day, Sweden will awaken from its delusions of “winning” the COVID-19 pandemic and put their former state epidemiologist on trial for criminal negligence.
