Anti-vaccine Christian broadcaster Marcus Lamb has died from Covid-19 at the age of 64, his channel announced Tuesday, weeks after contracting the virus.
Lamb was the co-founder and CEO of the Texas-based conservative Christian Daystar Television Network that has been a vocal opponent of coronavirus vaccines.
The broadcaster, who was born in Cordele, Georgia, becomes the latest conservative radio hosts who has publicly shared anti-vaccine views, or views against virus measures, to succumb to Covid-19.
Anti-vaccine Christian broadcaster Marcus Lamb (pictured, file photo) has died from Covid-19 at the age of 64, his channel announced Tuesday, weeks after contracting the virus
'It's with a heavy heart we announce that Marcus Lamb, president and founder of Daystar Television Network, went home to be with the Lord this morning,' the network said in a Tweet posted on Tuesday.
'The family asks that their privacy be respected as they grieve this difficult loss. Please continue to lift them up in prayer.'
The news of Lamb's death comes weeks after his son Jonathan Lamb, who filled in for his father during a November 23 show, asked listeners to pray for his father's recovery.
During the broadcast, Marcus' wife Joni Lamb called in her husband's hospital bedside, asking viewers to pray that his lungs clear.
'It's like, you'll just be up and everything's great, and then you have a little lull, and then you come down low and then you come back up, but from everybody that I talk to — I think that's the pattern,' she said over the telephone.
'We can really feel the prayers of the people. Pray specifically for his lungs to clear the Covid pneumonia and pray for his oxygen level to continue to be strong and to go up so that we can wean him off of oxygen and bring him home,' she added.
'It's with a heavy heart we announce that Marcus Lamb, president and founder of Daystar Television Network, went home to be with the Lord this morning,' the network said in a Tweet posted on Tuesday, along with a picture of Lamb with his wife Joni
Jonathan Lamb went on to describe his father's Covid-19 infection as 'a spiritual attack from the enemy' to 'take down' his father.
The network, worth an estimated $230million, has dedicated hours of broadcasts to an array of anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination activists and groups, according to NBC News.
In July 2020, the Lamb family dedicated an hour of their broadcast to 'censorship' in relation to the Covid pandemic, featuring notorious misinformation group America's Frontline Doctors.
In May this year, Daystar broadcast an hour-long show featuring Robert F. Kennedy Jr,' whose famous family rebuked his anti-vaccine views as early as May 2019.
Kennedy was recently banned by Instagram for posting Covid vaccine misinformation, and was found in March to be one of 12 Facebook accounts posting around two-thirds of the anti-vaccine social media content.
At least four conservative radio talk-show hosts who shared anti-vaccine and anti-mask sentiments died of the virus in August alone.
Pictured: Marcus Lamb (right) during a broadcast with his son Jonathan (left)
These included 65-year-old Marc Bernier who was self-described as 'Mr. Anti-Vax'.
Others were Phil Valentine, 61, who was a popular radio host in Tennessee, Jimmy DeYoung, 81, a Christian preacher also based in Tennessee and Dick Farrel, 65, who had worked for a number of radio stations in Miami and Palm Beach, Florida.
In September, conservative Christian radio host and former pastor of Denver Bible Church Bob Enyart died, also after contracting Covid.
Enyart was a staunch opponent of the Coronavirus vaccines and restrictions such as mask mandates.
The radio host and pastor was a controversial figure due to his fierce religious beliefs that led him to ruthlessly criticise the LGBT community, the pro-choice movement, and public health policies.
On his Real Science Radio show, the former pastor had railed against the 'imagined' burden of COVID-19 cases on hospitals and offered advice on treating the virus from the Bible before he died.
Also in September, popular podcast host Joe Rogan, who has also downplayed the need for coronavirus vaccines and touted ivermectin as a treatment, also announced he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Vaccines continue to be the safest and most effective protection against the most serious symptoms and outcomes of Covid-19.
Pictured: : A sign at a drug store advertises the COVID-19 vaccine on November 19, 2021 in New York City. On Friday vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention voted unanimously in recommending a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccines for all adults in the United States six months after they finish their first two doses
A study by the CDC in September found vaccines were still largely able to stop hospitalization in people infected by the highly-infectious Delta variant.
A separate study carried out in Britain found that those who are vaccinated are less likely to spread the coronavirus to others if they do become infected.
With the emergence of the potentially even more infectious Omicron variant of concern spreading rapidly in southern Africa, the CDC reinforced its advice about Covid-19 booster jabs on Tuesday, saying all eligible adults should get them.
Meanwhile, Israel's health chief claimed that people who get a booster Pfizer Covid vaccine or who had their second jab within six months should be highly protected against Omicron.
Without citing any data, Health minister Nitzan Horowitz said on Tuesday that there was 'room for optimism' based on 'initial indications'.
Just hours later, a report by an Israeli news channel claimed the Pfizer jab was 90 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic infection from Omicron, just slightly less than Delta.
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