Bruce Dickinson Speculates on What Drives COVID-19 Conspiracy Theorists

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson has an idea why COVID-19 conspiracy theorists hold so tightly to their beliefs.

The vaccinated musician contracted the contagious disease earlier this month after COVID cropped up in his household, necessitating he cancel some dates on a spoken word tour. Now, he says he "honestly find[s] it incredible that some people are still resistant [to vaccines] … And I mean, the [anti-]mask thing I genuinely do not understand."

After all, as Dickinson told Yahoo! Music on Monday (Aug. 30), he's "absolutely fine" following his infection, and he trusts it's because he was inoculated.

He adds, "My belief is — and I stress, it's a belief — that this proves that I would have been more sick if [I'd] not taken the vaccine. I mean, I had both jabs. Everybody I know has had both jabs. And I'm quite happy about it. You know, none of us have started growing extra heads, suddenly wanting sidle up to 5G phones or expressed a willingness to go down on Bill Gates. So, all of these things, I think it's largely a myth!"

Then why do conspiracy theories about the virus and the vaccines continue to propagate? And why do proponents of those theories seem to stick to their conclusions even if evidence doesn't support them? The Maiden vocalist has his own theory for that.

"I think they believe [conspiracy theories] because of their psychological makeup," Dickinson opines. "They have a need to believe in these things. It's the same as people that are going to sit on top of a mountain every year and wait for the world to end. And the world doesn't end, but do they modify their beliefs? Actually, no. It strengthens them: 'Yep, we were right all along. It is definitely going to end, just not this year. The rest of the world is against us!'"

Indeed, that's just "the way that some people think," the musician offers. "It's their mentality, and you're probably not going to change that. But for the rest of us, I would say, just get vaccinated. And if you do get sick, you won't get that sick. It'll just be like a mild case of the flu."

Dickinson isn't the only rocker to have recently gotten COVID. In the past month, Corey Taylor (Slipknot), Jonathan Davis (Korn), Paul Stanley (KISS), Sean Killian (Vio-Lence), Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row) and members of Tesla and Lynyrd Skynyrd all revealed they'd tested positive for the virus behind the worldwide pandemic. Several bands are being forced to cancel or postpone shows because of COVID.

Vaccination efforts are ongoing; 52 percent total in the U.S. are fully vaccinated as of Aug. 29. But with an uptick of infections across the country, the fate of many U.S. concerts and fests hangs in the balance.

Iron Maiden's 17th studio album, Senjutsu, comes out on Sept. 3. So far, listeners have been treated to the singles "The Writing on the Wall" and "Stratego." Pre-order the album here.