With limited resources to go around, emotions have undoubtedly fraught as people wait out the crisis in self-quarantine as scientists work toward an effective vaccine. 

With all of this going on, British-born singer-songwriter and rapper M.I.A. chimed with her thoughts toward vaccines. “If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I'm gonna choose death - YALA,” she posted on Twitter on Wednesday (March 25). Backlash swiftly rolled in via her comments section as many called her out for espousing anti-vaxxing views. According to Billboard, M.I.A. offered some perspective on her stance in a since-deleted tweet, although it's not clear what “chip” she’s referring to.
“In America they made me [vaccinate] my child before the school admission. It was the hardest thing. To not have choice over this as a mother. I never wanna feel that again. He was so sick for 3 weeks then Docs had to pump him with antibiotics to reduce the fever from 3 [vaccines],” she responded. “As an adult you have [a] choice! By then you've built your immune system. You have a choice as an adult.”

Amid the mounting backlash, M.I.A had another message to impart unto her followers. 

“Don't panic, you are ok. You are not gonna die. You can make it without stressing the medical systems. Just breathe,” she wrote in a separate tweet. “You are going to be ok. You can make it through without jumping in the frying pan. You are fine. All the vaccines [you’ve] already had is enough to see you through.” 

In her final tweet on the matter, M.I.A. hit back at her detractors with “cancelling is irrelevant!” 

Nonetheless, many still found her comments misinformative and reckless, especially given the current global health climate right now.

See her proclamation and the internet’s responses to it below: