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CHICAGO — Revolution MacInnes believes that disinformation about COVID-19 killed his father.

In recent years, MacInnes’ dad began subscribing to conspiracy theories. His father spent a lot of time on Facebook, and believed posts that claimed COVID-19 vaccines were harmful and lining the pockets of government officials, MacInnes said. He believes his father may have been mentally ill, and the conspiracy theories helped him feel engaged.

His dad refused to get vaccinated. In late January, the Oswego man began having trouble breathing. Within a few days, he was in the hospital with COVID-19. Soon after, he had a heart attack, his lung collapsed, and he was on a ventilator, MacInnes said.

He died Feb. 8 at the age of 76.

“The reason he didn’t get vaccinated is because he had been told a series of things around the dangers of vaccines,” said MacInnes, 55 of Chicago, who described his dad as one of his closest friends.“He was seeing all this nonsense.”