Did Dr. Robert Malone correctly claim in a speech that COVID-19 vaccines are not working, that they cause infertility and that vaccine makers are protected legally while families are not? No, that's not true: The vaccines have prevented serious illness and death for millions. Studies have shown the vaccines do not cause infertility and there is a compensation system for adverse effects proven to result from the vaccine.
Malone made the claims during his speech at the Defeat the Mandate rally in Washington, D.C., on January 23, 2022. Twitter permanently banned him in December 2021 for violating the platform's COVID misinformation policies. Lead Stories has reported Malone has made numerous false claims about COVID vaccines,
These recent claims originated in a video published by Rumble on January 23, 2022, titled "Mi Dr. Robert Malone's FULL SPEECH!!!" (archived here) which opened: "And please allow me to introduce my fellow warrior, Dr. Jill Glasspool Malone."
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Mi Dr. Robert Malone's FULL SPEECH!!!
Subscribe to il Presidento's rumble channel here: https://rumble.com/c/ilDonaldoTrumpo
The chyron (label on screen) on the 14:30 video identifies Malone as the "Inventor of mRNA and DNA vaccine technology." However, the M.D./pharmaceutical expert's claim that he invented mRNA vaccine technology is not recognized by independent authors writing about development of the ground-breaking method.
Let's break down several of the false claims he makes throughout the speech:
At 3:11 in the video, Malone says:
Regarding the genetic COVID vaccines, the science is settled: They're not working. They are not completely safe. Now we have omicron. These vaccines were designed for the original Wuhan strain, a different virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the COVID vaccines are protecting against the new omicron strain:
Current vaccines are expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to infection with the Omicron variant. However, breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated are likely to occur. With other variants, like Delta, vaccines have remained effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and death. The recent emergence of Omicron further emphasizes the importance of vaccination and boosters.
Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, tweeted the significantly different COVID death rate of those with a vaccine, with a vaccine and a booster, and without a vaccine:
How to reduce your chance of dying from Covid by 99%?
-- Eric Topol (@EricTopol) January 24, 2022
Get vaccinated and a booster.
One of the most impressive graphs I've seen for the impact of vaccination in the US pandemic
(thanks @redouad @OurWorldinData for re-plotting my makeshift graph from earlier today) pic.twitter.com/MePRT06zg5
The website Our World In Data shows the difference in this graph:
(Image source: Our World In Data website screenshot taken on Wed Jan 26 19:33:43 2022 UTC)
At 8:48 in the video Malone says:
In contrast, the pharmaceutical companies and the government are almost fully protected from any damages these products might cause to them. If your child is damaged by these vaccines you will be left alone with both your grief and the burden of care.
Peter Myers, professor emeritus at the George Washington University Law School, who was previously the director of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic, told Lead Stories via telephone on January 26, 2022, that Malone's comments regarding the pharmaceutical companies and the government are "at the very least misleading":
That is inaccurate. The accurate situation is the federal government passed a statute called the PREP Act which says that if you believe that you or a family member have been injured by the COVID vaccine you cannot sue the manufacturer unless you can show that the manufacturer has engaged in willful misconduct. If the manufacturer of any of these COVID vaccines has engaged in willful misconduct, which is a high standard, but that could be suppressing information about the vaccines, about its possible harms or other acts in manufacturing the vaccine if they did engage in intentional misconduct, you can directly sue the manufacturer.
Meyers cautioned he had not seen evidence of intentional misconduct on the part of pharmaceutical companies or the government, saying:
I think that's unlikely and I know of no evidence to date, which would indicate that any of the COVID-19 manufacturers have engaged in the intentional misconduct with respect to either producing the vaccine or getting it approved by the federal government regulators, or in distributing it or making false claims. If they did something like that, they would be liable.
The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) allows pharmaceutical companies to be protected from lawsuits until 2024 as of publication, according to the Food and Drug Law Institute.
People who claim they have suffered from COVID-19 vaccines can receive benefits under the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, according to the Health Resources Services Administration.
Lawrence O. Gostin, director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, explained the compensation system to Lead Stories via email on January 26, 2022:
COVID vaccines are very safe and effective. There are rare adverse effects. For the most part, vaccine companies and the United States government are not liable for these adverse effects. But there is a compensation system. Under that system the individual must show the vaccine actually caused the harms alleged but that is a high burden of proof and many, if not most, claims will fail.
At 9:15 in the video Malone says:
These genetic vaccines can damage your children. They may damage their brains, their heart, their immune system and their ability to have children in the future. Many of these damages cannot be repaired.
The benefits of COVID vaccination outweigh the known and potential risks, the CDC says. The vaccines do not cause infertility, as Lead Stories previously reported. Lead Stories has also written multiple articles about the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the only one approved for use for children under 18.
