Others do recognize the existence and the seriousness of Covid-19 but spread misinformation, blatant anti-science concepts, and some frankly conspiratorial theories about the virus’ origin, treatment, and why the vaccines are dangerous, at best. 

Here are just a few minor and, in a few cases, hilarious examples of misinformation followed by surveys of conspiracy theories and then the more serious and concerning anti-science and conspiracy concepts.

Breathing in steam or saltwater will kill the virus in your nose. Smelling sesame seeds cures COVID-19. Sea lettuce prevents COVID-19. Holding your breath for ten seconds is a good test to see if you are sick with COVID-19. One of the best stories is that Russian President Vladimir Putin released 500 lions onto the streets of Moscow to keep people indoors. Fortunately or unfortunately, none of these are true or correct.

Misinformation during a serious event is common, and conspiracy theories arise during times of stress. A few surveys are illustrative.

Investigators at the University of Basel in Switzerland surveyed 1,684 participants in July 2020 regarding conspiracy theories. The surveyors gave a list of presumed Covid-19 conspiracy theories such as “Big Pharma created coronavirus to profit from the vaccines.” Ten percent agreed strongly with at least one of the presented theories. Another twenty percent agreed sightly or moderately with at least one theory; seventy percent agreed with none. 

“Most popular were statements suggesting that the virus was man-made, or that the official explanation of the cause of the virus was questionable.” [The concept that the virus might have been released by accident from the Wuhan Virology Institute, once debunked by many scientists and the media, is being reconsidered intensively by the U.S. government as a legitimate possibility.] The ten percent tended to be younger, were more stressed, had more extreme political views, and had a lower educational level.

A Pew Research Foundation survey in June 2020 found that five percent of Americans believed then that the pandemic was created intentionally by powerful people, and another 20% believed this was likely true. Of those with a high school or less education, 48% thought it was definitely or probably true compared to 24% of college graduates and 18% with a graduate degree. Republicans were more likely to ascribe to this theory than Democrats, as were Blacks compared to whites and Hispanics.

A Cornell University study of media misinformation in late September 2020 examined the results from an analysis gleaned from 38 million English language Covid-19 articles between Jan1 and May 26, 2020. 1.1 million news articles (nearly 3% of all Covid-19 articles) “disseminated, amplified or repeated misinformation.” Only 16% indicated any evidence of “fact-checking” suggesting that “the majority of misinformation is conveyed by the media without question or correction.” The five most prevalent topics were “miracle cures,” “deep state,” a Democratic party hoax, the Wuhan laboratory as the source of an intentional bio-weapon thesis, and related to Bill Gates, such as implanting a chip with a vaccine shot.

Why do these beliefs develop? When big problems are leading to prolonged stress, we need big explanations. The concept that the pandemic originated from bats or the wet markets in Wuhan City, China is not psychologically satisfying. It is much more satisfying to believe that a person, a group, or a country created it with an underlying nefarious purpose — the “deep state.” [This, of course, is a different belief than that the virus was accidentally released.]

Over the summer and fall, friends asked me to look at two lengthy videos they had received, wondering if the information therein was accurate. Each was a talk given by an apparently respected physician. Each was an excellent presenter, seemed reasonable and expert, and both were very effective at sowing doubt about accepted science. 

One commented early in her presentation that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was “not an infectious disease doctor.” “He is an immunologist.” She also said that she fell asleep at a lecture he gave when she was an intern. Each of these was meant to undermine Dr. Fauci’s credibility. 

Dr. Fauci, however, is very well trained in infectious diseases and has been involved with them his entire career. Yes, his research uses immunologic techniques, but these are focused on understanding infectious diseases. As to her falling asleep, she was a surgical intern, and the lecture occurred early in the morning. 

My supposition — she was tired from being up much of the night, and probably a talk about infectious disease immunology was not of perceived great relevance to this particular surgical intern.

She suggested that the name of the virus was inappropriate. She said to call it “the Wuhan virus” or the “China virus.” She compared these names to “German” measles, “Middle East Respiratory-distress Syndrome” (MERS), and “Lyme” disease. Without saying it directly, she was implying that the virus was released from the laboratory.

 She did not say that most infections, e.g., polio, pneumococcal pneumonia, meningococcal meningitis, etc., do not use a place name for identification. The actual name assigned by the World Health Organization to this virus is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related CoronaVirus-2 or SARS-CoV-2. The disease name, COVID-19, is from the words Corona Virus Infectious Disease 2019. 

For those who believe that China or a laboratory in China released the virus intentionally, it is understandable that they would like to see the terms “Wuhan virus” or “China virus” used.

Another claim was that masks do little to protect the acquisition of the virus. She presented apparently solid scientific evidence that masks do not entirely prevent the passage of viruses. It is undoubtedly true that masks are not perfect and that some, such as the N95 masks, are better than a simple mask of sheeting. 

Nevertheless, masks are the best method to prevent airborne spread, especially when both parties wear them. But the clear implication of her explanation was that masks are not effective and therefore not necessary.

Certainly not limited to these two speakers is the belief that hydroxychloroquine is safe and effective for treating Covid-19. There was a lot of initial enthusiasm for this drug due to a French study that showed a reduction in the concentration of virus in nasal swabs of infected patients when treated with hydroxychloroquine, with or without azithromycin, for five days. 

Hydroxychloroquine is inexpensive, is generally safe, and has been widely used for decades, so it was promptly hailed as a potentially beneficial drug to use for COVID-19, including by President Trump. 

The FDA gave emergency use authorization in March 2020. There were, however, no clinical trials at the time that had proven for or against its efficacy. Nevertheless, many physicians and some infectious disease associations recommended hydroxychloroquine at least until further information became available. 

Soon an article was published in the Lancet, a highly regarded medical journal based in the United Kingdom and authored by well-respected academic physicians. It reported data collected by an analytics firm from 96,032 patient records from 700 hospitals over six continents. The report stated that, based on this review, hydroxychloroquine was not only ineffective but was dangerous. This information shot across the world in no time. 

Not appreciated then, yet noted in retrospect, the analytic firm that conducted the analysis was relatively small with few employees, had a non-existent track record, and would not let the authors or anyone else view the underlying data. Yet, it had somehow obtained presumably reliable patient-level data when regulators in most countries prohibit access to such protected healthcare information. 

The authors who had used this material were roundly criticized for inadequate attention to these basics. They were contrite, and the paper was withdrawn. Unfortunately, mainly based on this article, the World Health Organization and others had already stopped ongoing scientific trials of hydroxychloroquine.

Despite the back and forth, eventually, multiple clinical trials were completed, some looking at treating hospitalized patients, some looking at treating patients who had very early symptoms, and some looking at preventing disease in high-risk populations. None showed much if any value and the FDA has rescinded its emergency use authorization. Nevertheless, some still claim its effectiveness.

Another drug, ivermectin, has been suggested by many as effective and safe for preventing or treating Covid-19. Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug that has been highly effective in treating river blindness in Africa and a diarrheal disease caused by strongyloidiasis. It is cheap, it is effective, and it is generally safe. It has been used for decades, and the World Health Organization classifies it as one of the twenty essential medications. So why consider it in COVID-19? Because in cell culture, it reduced virus counts by 99+%. But in clinical use, there has been minimal information. 

The most intriguing observation comes from India. Amid a rapid increase in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths across the country in April and early May 2021, yet with only a few percentage of individuals yet vaccinated, ivermectin was made generally available by the government to all at no cost. How many took it is unknown, but temporally the case counts began to fall precipitously. Whether this drop was related to the widespread use of ivermectin is unknown.

This presumed impact of ivermectin contrasts with a randomized clinical trial comparing placebo to ivermectin to treat mild Covid-19 (See graphic above.). Those who received ivermectin had resolution of symptoms, on average, by day ten compared to day 12 for placebo, not a statistically significant difference. 

The jury on ivermectin is still out, but the true believers have offered the India observations as solid evidence that ivermectin is effective. The Indian Health Ministry, as of June 7, 2021, has, however, reversed its recommendation for using ivermectin. I think the final answer is still pending.

Let us move on to vaccination. One of the frequent anti-vaxxer claims is that the mRNA vaccines are unsafe. Why? Because “it will mess with my DNA” or “it is used as a chip for tracking me.” In actual fact, the messenger RNA does not get into the cell nucleus where the DNA resides, so it is not possible for it to interfere with or to change a person’s DNA. And the concept of a chip is just, well, interesting. Since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is an active vaccine advocate and study funder, some conflate this with Microsoft and from there to an embedded chip. 

Despite the science to the contrary, many do not trust it or the scientists. They feel, and present powerfully, that the mRNA vaccines are unsafe. The lead image of this article is of a person holding a sign which says, “this is a planned global power grab — the mRNA vaccine will kill millions more than CVI.” 

Individuals like this will not accept the carefully developed science as reviewed on this CDC link entitled “Science Brief: COVID-19 Vaccines and Vaccination.”

Many concerns have been raised for women of childbearing age. Are the vaccines safe during pregnancy? Can they cause infertility? The large, prospective randomized clinical trials from which the FDA decided to authorize them for emergency use did not include pregnant women. This is standard practice until a drug or vaccine is determined to be safe in the general population. 

However, it is also essential to be aware that pregnant women are at substantially higher risk for severe COVID-19, namely hospitalization, intensive care, or even death. In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine on April 21, 2021, the CDC reports there have been no added risks reported to those pregnant individuals vaccinated since the new vaccines from Pfizer/BTN and Moderna became available. The Centers for Disease Control now recommends that pregnant women should be vaccinated.

Vaccines will likely be available for children as young as 2 years of age by September or soon thereafter. This will raise substantial anxiety among parents, especially mothers, who will be bombarded with anti-vax propaganda. Parents only want the best for their children but with the knowledge that kids usually do not get seriously infected and since the vaccines are new and testing will have only recently been completed, it is no wonder that anxiety will be high for many.

One of the more vocal anti-vaxxers, anti-masking, advocates for hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin is Dr. Simone Gold, an emergency medicine physician in the Los Angeles area. She started an organization called “America’s Frontline Doctors.” She gave a talk in Washington, D.C., which was videotaped and quickly went “viral.” Pun intended. Among her claims are that vaccines can produce infertility in normal women. That totally misrepresents facts. There is no evidence that vaccines can cause infertility, but it is out there, and many people are concerned as a result. 

Another one of her claims is that the vaccines are “experimental.” This is an interesting statement given that they were authorized by the FDA only after considerable data analysis, publishing the data on their website, a review by an outside group of experts, and then given emergency use authorization. She also said that since the FDA is collecting adverse event data that if you get vaccinated, then you are “participating in an experiment and don’t even realize it.” She is implying there must be some concern or why bother to collect this information. It is unfortunate because the FDA collects adverse event data on every vaccine and every drug continuously into the future. This data collection continually proves itself very useful. 

For example, this surveillance methodology, both by European regulators and the FDA, quickly detected the unusual blood clotting disorder with reduced platelet counts was detected with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. These blood clots are very rare, but they are real and serious. As a result of their recognition, appropriate warnings have be given. 

Another example often touted as a reason not to be vaccinated is the later development of Bell’s Palsy or temporary paralysis of one of the facial muscles after vaccination. However, when evaluated over time in vast numbers of those who had been and those who had not been vaccinated, Bell’s Palsy does rarely occur, but no more frequently in the vaccinated than in the general population.

In Dr. Gold’s video, she gave recommendations for the vaccines and for therapy. She indicated that vaccines should be “prohibited” for those between the ages of 20–50. They should “probably be prohibited” for those between the ages of 50–70. For those over the age of 70, it would probably be better to take hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. For nursing home residents, it should be a case-by-case decision. She firmly espoused the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. It is of interest that on January 6, 2021 videos of the United States Capitol insurrection showed Dr. Simone inside with a megaphone. She has since been arrested by the FBI and indicted by the Justice Department.

So-called “influencers” on social media with their large followings are sometimes the most effective purveyors of misinformation. A recent article on Medium by Mathew Remski discussed what he calls “Reverse Contagion Anxiety.” He writes that social media influencers are “turning the vaccine into a virus” and claiming that the vaccine sheds a virus or something that can harm others nearby.

What happens when these misrepresentations and misinformation create enough concern? Perhaps the most glaring is the possibility of losing one’s job if vaccinated! The Centner Academy in Miami which teaches grades K through eight is warning its teachers not to be vaccinated. In an article in Science magazine, April 26, 2021, “Florida private school threatens jobs of teachers who seek COVID-19 vaccines.” A letter was written by Leila Centner, co-founder of the academy, which was sent to teachers. “It is our policy, to the extent possible, not to employ anyone who has taken the experimental COVID-19 injection until further information is known…It is in the best interest of the children to protect them from the unknown implications of being in close proximity for the day with a teacher who has very recently taken the COVID-19 injection.” (My italics).

Ms. Centner wrote the following to explain the academy’s decision. “Tens of thousands of women all over the world have recently been reporting adverse reproductive issues simply from being in close proximity with those who have received any one of the COVID-19 injections, for example, irregular menses, bleeding, miscarriages, post-menopausal hemorrhaging, and amenorrhea (complete loss of menstruation).”

This is a telling example of what can happen when the anti-vaxxers create enough concern to sway otherwise intelligent people that the vaccines are unsafe. The National Institutes of Health has stated that “there is no evidence that individuals vaccinated for COVID-19 can transmit the viruses to others or that vaccination of one person can have negative health effects on others.” The CDC has a detailed review entitled “Myths and Facts Regarding Covid-19 Vaccines,” but unfortunately, this and the NIH statement will not be enough to convince those genuinely concerned. The Centner Academy has not altered its vaccine approach.

What is needed? These types of misinformation, anti-science theories, and conspiracy theories have become extremely common at a time of great crisis, stress, and frustration for everyone. In that setting, people can be led into thinking that at least some of this misinformation is valid. 

What we all need is to learn to think critically using tools such as careful analysis, open-mindedness, and problem-solving. Schools need to teach critical thinking at all levels, and the media needs to utilize it in reporting and support it. 

Another key is for reporters and their editors to insist upon primary data before accepting some statement as fact. All too often, when a claim is made, the reference is to a speech or an article that in turn is based on someone else’s paper or statement, etc. but following it back leads nowhere. 

As readers, listeners, or viewers of the media, we need to be able to assume the reporter did his or her job of finding the actual primary source and its credibility. Unfortunately, that is commonly not the case.

The post COVID-19 Misinformation, Anti-Science, and Conspiracies Theories appeared first on Medika Life.

I’ve linked to the video below as we are going to address his fairy tale piece by piece, so you’ll need to refer to the video from time to time for context. It’s an interview conducted with Fuellmich by Marta Gameiro Branco on the 11th of April 2021. The actual interview is in English.

Fact-Checking Reiner Fuellmich for profit

Fuellmich claims that people are out to discredit him for profit, that it’s all a glorious hatchet job, orchestrated by Davos members and big business. For an attorney, his apparent inability to grasp just how messed up we are from an organizational stance, as evidenced by our haphazard pandemic responses, is concerning. We’re just disorganized Reiner, get over yourself, no one is really that bothered with you.

Contrary to what you and your supporters would like the world to believe, not everyone seeking to call out your fairy tale is actually in the employ of, or financially incentivized by big pharma and/or other nameless corporations. Medika Life and its authors/owners/publishers and related associates can assure you we are not expecting Ferrari’s parked in our driveways in the morning. Pfizer, if you’re listening, I’m leaning towards black, rather than red.

Our services are provided for free for the simple purpose of protecting the public against misinformation. It’s called providing a community service without the expectation of remuneration, it’s altruistic and it’s liberating, you should try it. What this means, in effect, Mr. Fuellmich is that we call out your bullshit for free, How annoying is that!

Reiner Fuellmich Fails in Canada

The Canadians arent having any of it either. Despite claims on social media by Fuellmich supporters to the contrary, Canada’s top court is not hearing the case about Covid-19 ‘crimes’. 

“Canadian Supreme Court has accepted the case for Crimes Against Humanity presented by Dr. Reiner Fuellmich, R.F. Kennedy Jnr, & Dalores Cahill,” reads the title of a May 5, 2021 article published on a website called Philosophers Stone. It was shared more than 1,500 times on Facebook, according to the social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.

According to the AFP Fact-Checking article, this statement of claim clearly indicates that it was filed in Ontario’s Superior Court, a provincial judicial body, which is not Canada’s Supreme Court. Contacted by the AFP, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed there is no such case before it.

“ After conducting some verifications, I can confirm that this file does not exist at the Supreme Court of Canada and that the Court has not issued any decision in this regard,” a spokesperson for the Ottawa-based judicial body told AFP.

The Ontario Superior Court confirmed to AFP that the case had been dismissed under Rule 2.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, which states that “the court may, on its own initiative, stay or dismiss a proceeding if the proceeding appears on its face to be frivolous or vexatious or otherwise an abuse of the process of the court.” Lies, misinformation, and more lies.

Score: Common Sense 1 — Reiner Fuellmich 0

PCR Tests. Really? Again?

At the risk of putting everyone to sleep with this very tired part of Fuellich’s pandemic conspiracy, we have to address it as Fuellmich states publicly in the video that their whole argument is based on the PCR tests not working. It is, in his own words, the foundation stone in the precariously balanced pile of nonsense he’s built up. Proving PCR doesn’t work, proves his argument. 

By the same logic, showing PCR does work will make him go away, as his whole argument, as acknowledged by him, pivots on the efficacy of the PCR test. So let’s make him disappear as magically as he appeared. I’ll examine the statements made in the video, one at a time. The figure in brackets preceding each transcript is a time reference for the segment to save you having to endure the whole video. 

Fuellmich has constructed his own logic chain and constructed an event sequence from an unconnected series of facts and misrepresentations. It’s devious and ingenious at the same time. You cannot disprove his story because it doesn’t conform to established scientific facts, rather it subsists on the legal glue he’s used to cobble together nonrelational information, so we aren’t going to play his game. 

We will simply point out his lack of understanding of some key and basic issues and the flaws in his individual statements.

[4:15] It (the PCR test) cannot be relied upon as it cannot distinguish between live and dead matter, meaning whatever tests positive to could very well be the fragments or remnants of your bodies own immune systems fight against the common flu or the cold and it cannot tell whether a virus, and you need a whole virus, not just a fragment, whether a virus has entered your cells and is replicating because that’s the only way for you to become contagious. 

There’s a whole lot going on here. Fuellmich isn’t a doctor or virologist or epidemiologist and it shows. The first and most obvious flaw in his statement above is this. You can spread the virus till the cows come home simply by having it in your nostrils. You don’t, Mr. Fuellmich, require active replication in your cells to be a vector for spreading a virus. 

Whether the matter detected by the PCR tests is either alive or dead has no relevance to the test’s ability to detect the material in the first place. In fact, this statement would seem counterintuitive on his behalf. If he’s suggesting the tests don’t work, why is he then complaining about the condition of the material they identify? You cant have it both ways Mr. Fuellmich.

Another key issue here is that the purpose of widespread testing was not to determine how infectious everyone was, but rather to ascertain the prevalence of the virus among general populations. It’s the only way we have to actively gauge how many people are or were infected and gives us a reasonable indicator of the virus’s spread and capability for transmission, particularly where patients are asymptomatic.

It may also be worth mentioning at this point that every single laboratory that does work on coronavirus strains — the so-called gain of function experimentation, where shrews or ferrets are given the human ACE2 receptor and then exposed to the coronavirus — do tests on the animals to see if they have been infected. Anyone care to hazard a guess as to which test they use? PCR. Why would they use this test if it’s so useless, Mr. Fuellmich? 

You’re welcome to leave a reply in the comments or are you going to plead the 5th. 

[5:38]…you have to put this into a machine and then magnify it. This is called cycles of amplification, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and everyone agrees in the meantime that anything beyond 24 is unscientific. Apart from the fact, these tests cannot tell you anything about infection because they can’t distinguish between live and dead matter, but, if, if you go beyond 24 cycles, if you go for example to 34 cycles of application then you end up with at least 97% false positives, that’s what Mike Yeadon, former vice president of Pfizer told us.

Let’s deal with Mike first, should we? Mike Yeadon is exactly the sort of person you’d be expecting Fuellmich to quote and his representation of Yeadon is horribly misleading. Yeadon did work for Pfizer. He was vice president and chief scientific officer for Pfizer’s United Kingdom-based allergy and respiratory unit until that unit shut down in 2011, not Pfizer’s actual VP as Fuellmich insinuates. 

The very fact that Fuellmich is consorting with Yeadon and regards his opinion as valuable is in my honest opinion enough reason to immediately discredit anything else Fuellmich has to say, but we’ll persist, should we?

For a more detailed dissection of the life and decline of Mike Yeadon, I highly recommend this enlightening piece from Kelly Hawes in the Herald Bulletin.

On to the cycling issue. Yet more conspiracy and misinformation. Amplification cycles vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, a fact Fuellmich conveniently omits to mention. He assures us he’s read the packaging insert, so he must have stopped short of the actual instructions. Depending on the sensitivity of the test and what is being tested, laboratory technicians need to adhere to the relevant test manufactures instructions. 

There is no such thing as a standard number of cycles as each test differs. Yes, it is true that if you don’t adhere to the prescribed number of cycles, you’ll ruin a particular test, but that’s human error and not a conspiracy. I would assume, given the assurances he continuously offers on the depth of his knowledge regarding PCR testing that he is all too well aware of this fact and has chosen to omit it as it doesn’t play to his storyline. The following explanation will help you understand the process in simpler terms.

The cycle threshold (Ct) value is the actual number of cycles it takes for the PCR test to detect the virus. It indicates an estimate of how much virus was likely in the sample to start with — not the actual amount. If the virus is found in a low number of cycles (Ct value under 30), it means that the virus was easier to find in the sample and that the sample started out with a large amount of the virus. 

Think about it like the zoom button on your computer, if you only have to zoom in a little (zoom at 110% — fewer cycles), it means that item was big to start with. If you have to zoom a lot (zoom at 180% — more cycles), it means that the item was small to start with.

Public Health Ontario has this to offer on the PCR test they use. You’ll note Mr. Fuellmich that your golden number of 24 is never mentioned here.

We have developed a PCR test in our lab, with positive and negative cutoff points. The cutoff point for a positive result for PHO’s developed lab test is 38 cycles. This means that if the virus is found at or before 38 cycles are completed, then the test is considered positive. The cutoff point for a negative result is 40 cycles. If the virus is detected between 38 and 40 cycles, we call this an indeterminate or inconclusive result. 

We’ll move on now, but if you prefer a more scientific explanation of the points raised above, we’ve provided one right here

Vienna and Fuellmich’s big game-changer

Following a complaint lodged by the FPÖ (Austrian populist party), the administrative tribunal of Vienna ruled on 24 March that PCR tests could not be considered as a reliable way of diagnosing an illness or the level of contagiousness of an individual. Our response. Way to go for stating the obvious.

PCR tests are simply an aid to doctors, enabling them to confirm or dismiss a possible diagnosis in conjunction with visible symptoms and other factors. In other words, as all doctors are aware, you treat the patient, not the test. Fuellmich obviously isn’t aware of this annoying medical habit of clinicians using diagnostic tools to assist them in confirming a diagnosis, leading him to claim rather brashly that the court decision in Vienna is a game-changer.

Sorry, Reiner, that’s a silly own goal and not your first.

Conspiracies r us

From around the 7th minute onwards in the video Fuellmich simply abandons any appearances of sane discourse and invokes almost every known conspiracy theory circulating on the internet. Davos is out to get him, there is a “great reset” underway, covid vaccines are compared to genetic bio-experiments, mass sterilization experiments (you can almost see Mike Yeadon typing Fuellmich’s script in the background). Even the Jews are dragged into and he has the audacity to compare the pandemic response to the holocaust.

It’s at this point that any credibility the man may have built up, based on his questionable earlier pseudo-science-based statements, flies out the window, and I feel comfortable closing with the following. Reiner Fuellmich is simply another one-trick pony and not a very impressive one. A con artist with delusions of grandeur and ambitions way above his station. 

If you can seriously entertain either the man or the sham he presents as actual fact, then you can consider your indoctrination into the ethereal world of conspiracies complete. You haven’t been flummoxed, you’ve been Fuellmiched. 

Hmm, think I may get T-Shirts printed. Pfizer, where’s my cheque?

Where is the Grift?

It’s there, we can assure you. Contibutions pouring in to support this world class “liberation” con. It’s the Normandy beach landing, except this time the beach is empt and no one’s home. Fuellmich has convinced the more gullible among us, and there are many, that the beach is crawling with enemies. I can see how he arrived here and the holes in his narrative provide a road map of sorts. If you’ll indulge me my fairy tale, you’ve listened to Fuellmich’s, so you can spare me five minutes.

He, or his office, began examining Covid or the lockdowns or masks or PCR tests, possibly for a client or simply out of his own financial interests. What he found overwhelmed him, both in terms of scale and sheer possibility. It was a lawyers wet dream, people falling over themselves to present evidence against the accused, one theory crazier than the next, but the list was as endless. 

The world was pissed off, at Covid, at being confined and just generally pissed off. Its our default setting of late, just hang out on social media for a while. 

There has to be a scape goat, a guilty party and a reason for our misery. Reiner Fuellmich understands this mindset or need all to well. He’s used to dealing with crime and the legal constructs dividing the world into the guilty and the innocent. Fuellich continued interviewing and continued collecting evidence. In the back of his mind, a plan was formulating. An ambitious one. Who better to blame than “the man”, the system and all its corrupt appendages. Who better as a client than the all the innocents. Fuellmich protects the world.

All he then needed was to formulate a construct, a backstory or plan that showed clear intent to harm his client (you and I, the innocents), a complex web that would prove sufficiently difficult to comprehend and equally differ to decipher. The chaos of the pandemic and the mixed messages presented the perfect fertile soil to plant his seed of doubt and the scientific materials he was about to twist out of shape to conform to his narrative abounded. And so, his “legal document” was created.

Nothing fits as it should in his convoluted tale. Bits poke out awkwardly everywhere, pushed into spaces they weren’t designed for. In places, as we’ve noted, he’s had to resort out of desperation to blaming things like Davos and completely ridiculous conspiracies. Yes, the worlds out to screw you, but so what. It didn’t need the pandemic for that. If you’re honest with yourself, his story just doesn’t feel right, does it. It feels forced.

What these conspiracy fans all typically tend to forget is that the overlords they complain about rely on their subjects for their existence. Without the one, the other ceases to exist. Its the same relationship flaw Fuellmich suffers. Without you, without your support, he ceases to exist. 

The post Reiner Fuellmich Fact Checked and Exposed as a Covid Conspiracy Con appeared first on Medika Life.

I’ve just come off a DM chat on Twitter with my Medika Life co-founder Dr Jeff Livingston. The subject of our quick chat was Covid, or more accurately, the stupidity surrounding it. The misinformation. We made it one of our missions when we founded Medika to combat quacks and charlatans who take advantage of an unsuspecting and often vulnerable public. We’ve been relatively successful in drawing people’s attention, via our Quack Scale.

Then, on a rainy day, along came Covid, and with it a sea of people who suddenly felt qualified to express opinions on subjects in which they have no formal training. They do, however, possess a plethora of agendas. none of which have anything to do with public safety.

We’re used to this. We deal with it every day in relation to “health experts” misquoting published papers and appropriating data for use in a way in which it was never intended. There is a playbook, common ploys like stating a fact that lends credence to the fiction you then begin to sprout. Establishing fear in your target market and then offering an out, 99% of the time, via something you’re selling.

What we weren’t prepared for when covid struck was the sheer scale. Combatting this sea of covid misinformation has become both emotionally and physically draining. It’s the same thing, over and over with no foreseeable end in sight. You could almost prepare a xeroxed response and just change the names.

These misinformation strategies feature attacks on the actual validity of the virus and its origins, conspiracy theories surrounding medical staff killing off people in hospitals for payment, mask-related rubbish to convince people to “go commando” in public, and of late, the vaccines. The vaccines, the vaccines, the vaccines.

I am in the process of writing an article fact-checking the latest misguided medical voice, Geert Vanden Bossche, who is suggesting vaccines will end humanity, but never fear, he has a solution, his type of vaccine strategy. Color me surprised (not really). His clear agenda and total transparency of motive make the article painful to write, but it needs to be done. Persecution will follow rapidly on the heels of publication.

Dealing with the fallout

The price you pay for attacking these “covid experts” differs dramatically from the normal quacks we deal with. I use the term “attacking” rather than “discrediting” intentionally because this is how their supporters view any opinions that are critical of their work.

The responses to an article, for instance, on a run-of-the-mill quack like Joseph Mercola, are timid in comparison to the types of responses we get for discrediting the covid crowd.

The quack responses are often polite, questioning, point to legitimate research, and ask pertinent questions with a view to pursuing further debate or supporting their opinion. Where there is a willingness to engage in discourse, there is an opportunity to engender change, to educate, and to foster patient safety.

Covid conspiracy theorists and vaccine debunkers are an entirely different species. They are militant, aggressive, unpleasant, and threatening from the get-go. These are the same individuals who would not look out of place in a red MAGA cap, toting automatic weapons in public at a Trump rally, heaven forbid we are ever exposed to that again.

And this time, they’re spread across the globe, with rapidly emerging clusters or powerbases forming. Canada, you’re so guilty you’re smoking. Their desire is not to raise valid, science-based concerns to enable free and open discourse. They exist solely to destabilize the public narrative, at any cost and it is for this reason they need to be de-platformed.

There is no interest in public health, they seek only to further destabilize and fragment our societies.

Any article we now publish looking to discredit covid debunkers is met with a froth of very unpleasant vitriol, threatening, and personal attacks. Most we don’t read and simply bin as the trash they are. The first few lines always indicate the intent. These cells of supporters are on a Holy Crusade and we’re the unfortunate disbelievers.

Don’t get me wrong, we don’t take these to heart. It comes with the territory and we accept it as a known risk for trying to deplatform these misinformed misinformationists. It is however the sheer volume of new dissenters willing to step into the breach that’s depressing, and it’s reflective of our society’s inability to deal with its own frailty and seeking sense and scapegoats for the perceived misery.

They’re pissed at the “Man” and as the vaccine is the “Man’s” product, it’s the easiest place to attack him. Hit him where it hurts and be remorseless. The fact they are endangering their fellow human beings is lost on them. It is a war and they see an exposed flank They are circling, like ravenous hyenas, and every now and then one steps forward to attack, egged on by the baying hounds behind him.

As always, the easiest targets are government, the establishment, and big pharma. Big brother. While I’m the first to hold up a hand and admit these power bases do nothing to elicit trust in the general public, this simple fact does not make them guilty of a global campaign to re-engineer humanity.

Pharma is simply a financial machine looking to maximize their profits, and the current pandemic has saved the fortunes of many pharma companies and in some cases spectacularly reversed them for the better.

No one, except an idiot, makes a profit once and in doing so destroys their future market. Pharma needs you alive and very much kicking so they can continue to sell to you, so they can continue to profit. To suggest any other agenda is to suggest complicity on a scale that we have proved ourselves hopelessly incapable of.

Seriously. We can’t even agree on a decimal or imperial system but suddenly the whole world is onboard to change our human physiology? Get a life!

A little help here?

To get back to the cough drops I opened with. It is against federal law to advertise products that offer treatment or cure for Covid. The FDA and DOJ have issued dozens of warnings over the last few months, instructing companies and individuals to remove the misleading statements and advertising from their websites and marketing, or else.

There is an obvious danger here they’ve sought to address. Telling someone they are safe when in fact, the mechanism you’ve sold them to ensure their safety is unproven and untested. Victims of these blatant cons are as prone to contracting covid as any one of us.

I would argue that making false statements suggesting the vaccines contain tracking chips, interact with 5G, and will make you spout a tail and horns are in fact as dangerous, if not more so than the cough drop scenario. Discouraging one person in an at-risk category to avoid taking the vaccine because of your wild and unproven claims is potentially murder. You may as well have shot the person yourself. It is that simple.

We live in a world where respect is an outdated concept. Respect for life and for individual choice. Actively trying to enforce a point of view that places life and limb at mortal risk is irresponsible and, despite my inclination towards open and uncensored media, needs to be addressed with harsh penalties and possible imprisonment.

In the meanwhile, while the snail we call the government struggles to keep pace with social media, the responsibility of calling out these dangerous purveyors of falsehoods falls on the shoulders of the medical profession. They are ill-suited caretakers, their profession engendering a sense of caution and avoidance of public confrontation. Many have bravely broken free of this mold and are speaking out, trying to counter the lies with science-based facts and evidence.

The responsibility should not be left to these few souls. The media have been far too quiet in condemning medical charlatans. Ignoring them isn’t the answer and simply allows their bases to grow. They need to be publicly and loudly disavowed. Government, mainstream media, and common-sense need to come to the party. NOW.

The post Are We Done Yet? The Exhaustion of Combatting Covid Misinformation appeared first on Medika Life.

His latest trending conspiracy tirade is apparently drawn from a very obtuse and mysterious organization he has dubbed the German Corona Investigative Committee. comprising himself and other unnamed members. The document he has produced is an epic 12 pager, a War and Peace sized missive, the nature, and composition of which, would almost certainly have turned Tolkien green with envy. You can view the document here.

At its root, the document is this, nothing more, nothing less. A cleverly constructed fabrication of wishful thinking, clever turns of phrase, and willful manipulation and misinterpretation of the facts to arrive at a conclusion that is so far removed from reality as to give concern for the author’s sanity. 

Fact-Checking Fuellmich’s Fairy Tale

We deal on a regular basis with the fringe of healthcare, the kooks and quacks selling their own brand of self-appointed health poisons and potions. There is a certain predictability about the channels these individuals use to amplify their brand of crazy and Fuellmich is no different. It’s the first flag we look for and it usually signals an idea or opinion that is so far removed from reality that no one else dares touch it.

Conspiracy websites and the alt-health sector adopt these individuals as their own, which is helpful, as they singlehandedly do more to discredit them than any other source. Play with the nutters and you give up your seat at the sane table for good.

Let’s look at a few of the statements Fuellmich makes and then later we’ll take a closer look at the man. We’ve cherry-picked bits, so don’t worry, your eyes aren’t going to bleed from sustained exposure to bullshit. Rather than picking apart his entire tale, we’d like to show you how he has crafted his fiction and the tools he relies on to appear convincing and authoritative. 

His small statements are made without a shred of supporting evidence, but they are made in a matter-of-fact way that suggests to the reader they ought to know these “facts”. Here is an example and we’ve highlighted parts of the text for emphasis.

Now let’s take a look at the current actual situation regarding the virus’s danger, the complete uselessness of PCR tests for the detection of infections, and the lockdowns based on non-existent infections.

His use of the word “actual” indicates your perception of reality has been flawed and he is about to set you straight. PCR testing is trashed without a shred of supporting evidence and next, he suggests there aren’t any infections. Hey folks, people haven’t been dying, not from Covid anyway.

These statements on their own don’t look dramatic and we are therefore inclined not to seek validation for them, but they begin to paint a picture in the reader’s mind and thus lend credibility to the rest of the narrative. The author uses this tactic remorselessly throughout, building on it as he progresses. Small lies and falsehoods, interspersed with facts to lend credence.

The whole article is a crock of horseshit as anyone intimately involved with the pandemic for the last 12 months can attest to. Ask someone who has been seriously ill with Covid if they think it’s regular flu.

We have a skilled and unscrupulous lawyer in Fuellmich who is painting a picture to the jury (us) of something he wants to sell us. We’ll examine possible motives for his sales pitch at the end of the article. 

A word of clarification: in Bergamo, the vast majority of deaths, 94% to be exact, turned out to be the result not of Covid-19, but rather the consequence of the government deciding to transfer sick patients, sick with probably the cold or seasonal flu, from hospitals to nursing homes in order to make room at the hospitals for all the Covid patients, who ultimately never arrived.

An amazingly exact figure (94%) and very confusing considering the ample evidence that now exists to support the fact that most Italian areas and Bergamo was no exception, were underreporting Covid deaths. Don’t take my word for it, here is conclusive proof. Also, given the 228% (you’re not the only one that can do it mate) increase in deaths compared to 2019, I think Italians could safely assume they weren’t dealing with influenza.

Fuellmich may want to avoid booking a holiday on Lake Como. Accusing the Italians of murdering their own people may not be the best way to ensure a harmonious EU brotherhood. In his defense though, he has set about trying to piss off everyone equally. Literally, no one is spared in his 12-page tantrum. This next exert is my favorite.

However, as autopsies have shown, which were carried out in Germany in particular, by the forensic scientist Professor Klaus Püschel in Hamburg, the fatalities he examined had almost all been caused by serious pre-existing conditions, and almost all of the people who had died at a very old age, just like in Italy, meaning they had lived beyond their average life expectancy.

So exactly how many bodies did the good Professor Püschel hack up for his research? You see if we choose to believe Fuellmich then there wouldn’t, according to his view of events, have been that many bodies. Hardly enough to form a solid opinion from anyway, so Fuellmich has, without realizing it, just locked his tale in with Schroedinger’s cat. Fuellmich’s Paranoia Puzzle. 

Let’s revert back to the real world and the totally ridiculous conclusion he draws. Influenza doesn’t kill people, it’s the infections that get you, Even someone as lacking in medical knowledge as Fuellmich appears to be, would know this. Covid is no different. Show me a person who has died of Covid and I’ll show you Elvis’s latest concert itinerary.

Lungs collapse or simply gum up, fatal blood clots form, hearts stop and the list goes on. That’s what kills you. Covid was simply driving the car. The older you are the more likely you are to suffer from some or other dodgy organ, stuff stops working and wears out. I’d also be interested to know why Professor Püschel didn’t investigate younger fatalities? Did he. and Fuellmich just conveniently avoids mentioning them, or did the Professor have an agenda, much like Fuellmich?

The last extract is simply to show you the depths to which this waste of flesh is willing to stoop in order to further his cause. 

there are numerous credible reports that doctors and hospitals worldwide had been paid money for declaring a deceased person a victim of Covid-19 rather than writing down the true cause of death on the death certificate, for example a heart attack or a gunshot wound

See those highlighted words? He’s at it again. Where are these “numerous credible” reports you’re referring to Mr. Fuellmich. Please produce them. Otherwise, it is my sincere hope that while on holiday at Lake Como. you take ill, and that your attending Italian surgeon is intimately familiar with your article. Best of luck. 

Not satisfied with merely insulting the memories of those who have lost their lives to Covid, Fuellmich reaches out to the doctors and healthcare providers as well, accusing them of falsifying death reports. The man is truly a piece of work.

What motivates Fuellmich?

That’s a difficult question to answer. His rise to infamy really began in 2020, and one crazy covid related headline after the next has kept him in the alternate media eye since then. This latest effort will almost undoubtedly not be his last. It may simply be that he craves the spotlight and notoriety and enjoys the media attention. 

Weird we know, but sometimes the simplest explanations are the ones we miss and nothing in the alternate universe that Fuellmich occupies smacks of normalcy. Perhaps in recognition of the danger he poses, most mainstream media have avoided amplifying his rubbish and generally shun him. As stated earlier, he survives off the charity of conspiracy websites and alternate health platforms, without whom he would just be another conspiracy nutcase pissing into the wind.

What is at once apparent is that the Department of Justice and FDA will have renewed interest in Herr Fuellmich and if they don’t, we can assure you we intend to make them painfully aware of him. His efforts to spread misinformation on the virus and create a climate of distrust in the public mind compromises public health and the healthcare industry. 

But wait, isn’t he German? Yes, he is, but he proudly brags of being licensed to practice law in the State of California. According to the State Bar of Califonia website, they hold the following information on Fuellmich.

Reiner Fuellmich #165532

License Status: Active

A new deconstruction of Reiner Fuellmich’s Fairy Tale is available here

We’ve added a new document that exposes all the glaring holes in the fiction that Fuellmich has cobbled together. You can read it here.

The post We Call Out Reiner Fuellmich as a Fraud. The Covid Conspirator Investigated appeared first on Medika Life.