People who believe in these types of theories usually want to feel part of a club or may just be gullible. Pulling up charts and figures likely will not help as they often dismiss it or change the theory. Listening to them and asking them why they feel that way and where they got the information can cause them to critically think about it and start to form the cracks in the theory. If you think you're getting somewhere, maybe ask why vaccines and not another, more accessible form of medicine.

In this case, it sounds like the family doctor may be the source. Clarify exactly what this doctor said and what they would prescribe instead of a vaccine. It may be something homeopathic or a scam, or something else indicating the doctor is spreading a vaccine lie for their own gain.

If you're getting nowhere, consider if this family member has a history of mental illness. Some disorders make people prone to skepticism and a general mistrust of the world, or cause magical thinking. Schizophrenia, bipolar (manic episodes), and OCD can sometimes be hard to spot.

Unfortunately, it could also be something ego-centered, and being "in" on a theory forms a core part of their identity, separating them from the "sheep". They could be unempathetic to the idea of their actions spreading disease, or annoyed at the idea they have to take action to protect themselves. Based on the number of emotional responses in this thread and the general advice to block them or call them names, this is, sadly, a very likely cause. In this case, the best thing you can do is protect yourself by getting the vaccine that they won't and limit physical contact. It's a very sad reality that this line of selfish thinking has become extremely prevalent since COVID. I also had a vaccine skeptic family member who only gave it up once they caught COVID. They were lucky; take a look at r/DarwinAward to see the damage vaccine denialism causes.

Stay safe OP. I hope there is light for your family member.

Sever ties. I'm sorry.

Punch them in the fucking face and 300 kick their asses out the door

“I’ll pay for yours if it means you can’t reproduce.”

COVID is being used to depopulate and the vaccine is for those who want to survive

One of the reasons i don't make policy decisions: my solution yo the antivax problem is to develop a bioweapon and a corresponding vaccine. Secretly add the new vaccine into all other vaccines for two years. Warn people that the coming flu season is going to be bad and that a new dangerous strain of covid is spreading to increase vaccination rates. Then deploy the bioweapon. No more antivaxxers.

I’m on the ONS site and there’s mountains of publications and data on Covid. Which publication did they read?

"More vaccines for me"

"If you think the world's top scientists are trying to kill you, then why would you listen to any expert about anything? They'll save you from yourself when you're wrong anyway. Would you do the same for them? That's why they're trustworthy, and you and your sources are not."

"Bye."

Then leave and stay gone.

Not everything requires a response and at some point you have to pick your battles. They have revealed to you that they are an idiot. It is not your job to fix them.

I'm often a dick. I probably wouldn't say anything immediately, and then use that asinine opinion to dismiss anything else the person says later. Forever. They say something about , "Yeah, but you also think vaccines kill people, so we already know you are an idiot." Just on repeat on every opinion they voice, until they never want to say anything around me or talk to me.

Tell them that you're a sheeple, and got the safe dose of the vaccine, since they want to keep the compliant people around. Tell them it's too bad they're on "the list" of bad people.

I generally reframe it from a perspective even they think they understand: Money.

Governments want their money. Less Population = Less Taxes for them to take, ergo, no government is trying to lower their population. And do they, the audience, think that the government is willing to have less money?

I don't think so!

"How to speak to a vaccine sceptic: research reveals what works Hesitancy about vaccinations is on the rise, but studies show there are specific ways to address people's questions."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01771-z

Optimistic, but a start maybe.

"If that were true, I'd be trying even harder to make you take it."

If you think they’d be open to it, try Bayes’ theorem. Ask them to give percent likelihoods for the following:

A. The odds that the government (or whoever) is trying to kill everyone, before taking the evidence of excess deaths into account
B. The odds of seeing excess deaths for any possible reason, not just their conspiracy hypothesis
C. The odds of seeing excess deaths if the conspiracy hypothesis were true.

Then logically, the odds of the conspiracy being real given the excess deaths should be A*C/B. If you disagree with them on the outcome, you must disagree on one or more of the assumptions (probably A—if it’s B, you can find the objective odds by checking historical data).

If you still disagree on the prior assumption (A), you can set aside the excess deaths argument and ask what other evidence led them to form that prior assumption. Then you can repeat the process until you either reach agreement or they’re left with an assumption they have no evidence for.

They don't need a vaccine to depopulate when heart disease(695k/y), car accidents(40k/y), overdoses(82k/y), abortion(1m/y), and suicide(49k/y) kill far more people than the vaccine could possibly be linked to the COVID vaccines(8k in total).

Don't at me for including abortion, I support abortion access and want it to be a free service, but we are talking about depopulation means and abortion is a means to depopulate.

IIRC there was a study where people with strong opinions talked to an Al and the process changed their minds.

Edit:

Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq1814

This is an easy one:

source

Ask them to point to the depopulation occurring.

On the graph the fuzzy dot is on June 2021 which was around the time that vaccines were in full availability. According to their logic we should see a decline occurring from the "depopulation" occurring from COVID vaccines. Where is that decline?

in 2025? Vaccines have been available for how many years now? Why does anyone even think about COVID vaccines anymore in this year? We would have figured out any adverse effects by now if there were any.

Just mock them.
"Yeah, sure. It's all apart of Elvis's plan to return as the antichrist."

You are allowed, and sometimes encouraged, to not say anything.

Well I guess we agree that we should respect body autonomy.

But please be cognizant of the social consequences of not having herd immunity to protect the vulnerable and the perfectly reasonable judgement that your actions will result in the death of children, potentially including your own.

Ask them questions. Have them explain how, why. When you find contradictions or confusion, ask how they resolve them.

"It couldn't hurt to get a second opinion, at least, right?"

Slap them in the face to bring them back to their senses.

Yes they are. Those who don't take them help depopulate the planet