Action movie legend and former California governor Arnold Schwarznegger has weighed into the neverending vax/anti-vax debate, pleading with individuals to listen to the experts instead of the propaganda they may find watching “a few hours of video” on the internet.

Schwarzenegger, in comments retweeted by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, and several others on Twitter, said: “I always say you should know your strength and listen to the experts. If you want to learn about building biceps, listen to me, because I’ve spent my life studying how to get the perfect peak and I have been called the greatest bodybuilder of all time.

“We all have different specialties.”

He added: “Dr [Anthony] Fauci and all of the virologists and epidemiologists and doctors have studied diseases and vaccines for their entire lives, so I listen to them and I urge you to do the same.”

Schwarzenegger’s comments come as countries across the world continue to urge their citizens to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, but vaccine hesitancy has resulted in dwindling numbers of persons seeking a COVID shot and gradual introduction of vaccine mandates.

For example, across the United States, government and private sector entities have been receiving authorisation to institute vaccine mandates for workers.

In the Caribbean, attempts to introduce vaccine mandates have resulted in numerous demonstrations and, in St Vincent and the Grenadines, one of the protests resulted in injury to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.

In his comments, Schwarzenegger, the star of the blockbuster Terminator film series, who once earned the nickname The Governator, said: “It’s simple: if your house is on fire, you don’t go on to YouTube, you call the damn fire department. If you have a heart attack, you don’t check your Facebook group, you call an ambulance. If 9 doctors tell you you have cancer and need to treat it or you will die, and 1 doctor says the cancer will disappear, you should always side with the 9. In this case, virtually all of the real experts around the world are teling us the vaccine is safe and some people on Facebook are saying it isn’t.”

He added: “In general, I think if the circle of people you trust gets smaller and smaller and you find yourself more and more isolated, it should be a warning sign that you’re going down a rabbit hole of misinformation.

“Some people say it is weak to listen to experts. That’s bogus. It takes strength to admit you don’t know everything. Weakness is thinking you don’t need expert advice and only listening to sources that confirm what you want to believe.”

In commenting on Schwarzenegger’s advice, Tedros said: “Dear @Schwarzenegger, thank you for your support of health science. Indeed, each of us has different strengths & expertise to contribute to society. But when it comes to the power of vaccines, it’s dangerous not to listen to health professionals because vaccines save lives!”