Walmart staff threatened by self-proclaimed ‘vaccine police’ if they’re caught carrying out shots

Pharmacists forced to barricade themselves in as anti-vaxxer live-streamed encounter and shouted misinformation

A video of Christopher Key, who calls himself the “vaccine police”, storming a Walmart in Missouri (ChristopherKey/Facebook)

Staff at a Walmart in Springfield, Missouri, were confronted by a man who has called himself the “vaccine police” and threatened employees if they carried out vaccinations for Covid.

Christopher Key, according to the Springfield News-Leader, stormed the Walmart store on Sunshine Street and shouted at workers on Monday. He was joined by about half a dozen followers.

“What they’re doing is crimes against humanity,” he said in a Facebook live video of the stunt. “And if they do not stand down immediately, then they could be executed. They can be hung in the state.”

Walmart staff were forced to barricade themselves behind the counter of the in-store pharmacy, while Mr Key continued shouting for half an hour, his own footage shows.

"What they're doing here is they're violating the Nuremberg Code,” said Mr Key, comparing health workers with Nazis, “and if you allow one more shot to go into one more person's body, you yourself can be executed”.

He went on to say that he was storming the Walmart "out of love” and that he was “just letting you guys know that if you continue to do this, that you guys will be held accountable”.

Mr Key, a reportedly well-known figure among anti-vaxxers and the far-right on social media, wrongly alleged that 45,000 people had died within three days of being vaccinated for Covid.

The figure is false, despite being mentioned in an affidavit filed by America’s Frontline Doctors – a group known for spreading Covid misinformation, according to The Washington Post.

Mr Key aired that 45,000 figure at an anti-vax rally in Missouri at the weekend, it was also reported.

He travelled to the state from his home in Alabama, where the rate of hospitalisations from Covid has risen 64 per cent in a fortnight, according to analysis by The New York Times.

As few as 36 per cent of adults in Alabama are fully vaccinated against Covid. Still, Mr West told his followers in another Facebook live video on Wednesday that reports of Alabama hospitals being full were wrong.

The Independent has approached Walmart for comment.