The dangerous anti-vaxx myths peddled by doctors
...as Johnson praises flu jabs – and damns doubters as ‘nuts’
BORIS Johnson yesterday branded opponents of vaccinations as ‘nuts’.
Doctors are among those raising doubts about inoculations, especially in the fight against coronavirus.
But on a visit to a GP surgery in east London the Prime Minister spoke of the importance of flu jabs.
And he told nurses: ‘ There’s all these anti-vaxxers now. They are nuts.’
Polling suggests as many as one in four Britons would be apprehensive about having a Covid-19 vaccine if one is developed. But ministers believes such a jab is the best way out of the pandemic.
Writing in the Daily Mail today, Alok Sharma reveals that a £100million facility is being built in Essex to produce enough vaccine in six months to inoculate the entire UK population.
The Business Secretary also appeals for volunteers for clinical trials to help ‘speed up the search for a vaccine and to end the pandemic sooner’.
Jayne Donegan, who has worked as a locum GP in London, is among the doctors expressing doubts about vaccinations.
She was reported last year to have told parents how to forge their children’s medical records so schools would think they had been inoculated.
In an article on coronavirus, published online, Dr Donegan casts doubt upon the ‘safety and effectiveness’ of vaccines, suggesting patients should focus instead on staying well.
If they do fall ill, she advocates measures such as hot drinks, sleep and reflecting on the ‘ emotional causes’ of sickness. Dr Donegan is banned by the General Medical Council from administering or providing advice on child vaccinations and a GMC spokesman has said she is under investigation.
Another doctor, locum consultant surgeon Muhammad Iqbal Adil, has been given a 12-month suspension by the GMC for posting videos about coronavirus online.
The 61-year- old has dismissed Covid as a ‘ hoax’ and, in a YouTube video which has since been removed, said a vaccine could be combined with electrical components to monitor the global population. Like Dr Donegan, Dr Adil could face a tribunal hearing and sanctions ranging from a warning to being struck off the medical register.
Dr Bruce Scott, a psychoanalyst based in Scotland who offers private consultations with mental health patients, has shared conspiracy theories online.
Responding to a television interview with Professor Sarah Gilbert, who is leading efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine at Oxford University, he decried ‘rushed out research’ on Twitter.
He said: ‘Let her and her pro Covid-19 vaccine scientists give it to their kids first.’
Dr Scott, who says he is a former member of the board of governors for the College of Psychoanalysts, has retweeted a post by conspiracy theorist David Icke, saying: ‘Compulsory mask wearing is calculated psychological war on the population.’
Professor Dolores Cahill, of University College Dublin, has given an interview to an Irish video blogger in which she accused politicians of using coronavirus as a ‘fearmongering propaganda tool’ to ‘take away rights from people and to make them more sick and to force vaccinations on us’.
The immunologist claimed that if people boosted their immune system with vitamins C and D and zinc supplements, and ate well, they would have hardly any coronavirus symptoms and clear the virus.
The rise of anti-vaxxer sentiment has been exploited by the disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield, who Dr Donegan has described as a ‘champion of academic and scientific integrity’.
Wakefield, who lost his licence after saying MMR caused autism, has said coronavirus is a cynical plot by pharmaceutical firms.
Dr Doug Brown, chief executive of the British Society for Immunology, said: ‘The anti-vaccine views being expressed on a Covid vaccine are a
‘Fearmongering propaganda’
real concern for public health. If a vaccine goes through all the testing stages and is found to be safe and effective, it would be a travesty if some people then refused to be vaccinated.
‘We encourage people to seek reliable information on a coronavirus vaccine.’
Dr Adil, when asked by the Daily Mail about his YouTube videos spreading conspiracy theories, said: ‘That’s my perception, with other medical colleagues – that’s maybe right, maybe wrong. It is something that is all over the world, not only me.’
Dr Scott declined to comment, while Dr Donegan did not respond to requests for a comment. Professor Cahill and Wakefield could not be reached.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced plans this week to widen eligibility for flu vaccine on the NHS to all over-50s.