Outrage as council’s venue shows film by anti-vaxx ‘con artists’
A CONTROVERSIAL antivaccination film backed by disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield is to be shown in Britain.
The documentary, called Vaxxed II: The People’s Truth, is due to be screened at a council-owned venue.
Campaigners warned the film ‘puts children’s lives at risk’, while the NHS said the ‘con-artists’ behind it ‘risk the health of our whole society’.
But the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which owns the screening venue in Notting Hill, west london, said it did not plan to intervene to pull the screening. Anti-vaxxers have hired a listed former church called The Tabernacle on January 26 and are selling tickets for £15, the Mail can reveal.
The council leases the building rent-free to the Carnival Village Trust, a charity given an annual grant of £95,500 by taxpayers. Wakefield was struck off by the General Medical Council in 2010 for his flawed research.
The film pushes discredited claims linking the MMR jab to autism, which he propagated in a now-retracted 1998 paper in The lancet medical journal.
last May, Wakefield, 63, who lives in America and is dating supermodel elle Macpherson, made a rare public appearance urging anti-vaxxers to donate to fund the film.
He reportedly features heavily in the documentary, the sequel to Vaxxed, a controversial 2016 film he directed. The latest film is produced by Wakefield’s business partner Polly Tommey, a British mother and leading figure in the anti-vaccination movement. She is set to appear at the screening for a Q&A with audience members.
The executive producer is
Robert F Kennedy Jr – the son of Bobby Kennedy and nephew of assassinated US president John Kennedy – who claims the film aims to give ‘vaccine-injured’ individuals a voice.
The film is arriving in the UK at a time of heightened concern over ‘anti-vaxxers’. The Mail launched its Give Children Their Jabs campaign in october, after an alarming NHS report revealed falling uptake of all ten childhood jabs.
The screening is being promoted in anti-vaxx groups on Facebook. Michael Marshall, from scientific charity the Good Thinking Society, urged The Tabernacle to pull the screening immediately.
He said: ‘The misleading claims made in films like this put children’s lives at risk and we need to counter them.
‘In our work we see a huge amount of anti-vaccination misinformation spreading through social media where these claims propagate. Films like this con DESPITE tribute to that climate.’ Professor Stephen Powis, NHS medical director, said: ‘Vaccines remain the best chance people have of protecting themselves and their children against deadly diseases.
‘The NHS is taking action to drive uptake of essential jabs but con artists and charlatans peddling fake news and other dangerous content online and elsewhere in the media, not only make it harder for families to
‘Putting children’s lives at risk’
stay safe but risk the health of our whole society.’
A council spokesman said: ‘The council provides funding to support a programme of activities, live performance, education and cultural arts for the local community. The venue is also available to hire privately, which is the case with this screening.’
The Tabernacle did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the film makers.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last night: ‘Vaccine misinformation in any form – book, film, website or otherwise – is completely unacceptable.’