MEXICO CITY (AP) — Three years after the first spread of COVID-19 in Mexico, and as the government celebrated the reduction in deaths and hospitalizations from vaccination, a contrary narrative emerged from the Senate from two prominent skeptics.
The Mexican authorities recognize 331,449 deaths from COVID-19 from 2020 to 2022, although excess mortality – deaths above expectations – amount to 650,602 cases. Last year, despite the rebounds, the cases remained at levels below 2020, prior to vaccination.
“Thanks to the protective effect of the vaccines, the risk of serious illness and death was reduced. Getting vaccinated is essential to prevent damage,” Hugo López-Gatell, Undersecretary of Health and head of the pandemic strategy, posted on Twitter on February 28.
But along with the official message, the same day the Senate invited for the first time to a conference with openly skeptical people: Dr. Robert Malone and businessman Steve Kirsch, who assured that the vaccine does not work, that it is risky and that is why some countries suspended its use, even though they used false or out-of-context claims previously verified by The Associated Press.
Malone, a doctor who researched mRNA vaccine technology, and Kirsch, an entrepreneur and founder of The COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund who was seeking to treat the disease with existing drugs, are two leading figures critical of COVID-19 vaccines. in United States.
“The vaccine does not work, it is not safe, but there is still a lot of propaganda for using it,” Malone said at the event organized by the pro-government senator Rafael Espino. His presentation was broadcast by the official media of the Senate and the Congress channel and was widely celebrated by anti-vaccine groups.
AP tried to contact Espino through his press liaison, refused to comment arguing that the legislator had a full agenda and referred to an opinion column published in El Heraldo de Chihuahua in which he defended the “right of all to inform us of the qualified opinions relating to the administration and management of the health crisis”.
“The UK has discontinued the use of these vaccines,” Malone argued, citing concerns about the vaccine’s safety, though this claim was denied by the AP in January.
A spokesman for the United Kingdom Health Security Agency then explained that they would continue to offer the vaccine to people at risk and over 50 years of age, in a policy change that is not related to adverse effects of the biological.
Kirsch, who was misidentified by the Congressional Channel as a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) advisory committee, mentioned “sudden death,” unexpected deaths supposedly caused by vaccination.
The AP has identified that anti-vaccine groups have used the term “sudden death” to wrongly or unsupportably attribute hundreds of deaths of children, adolescents, athletes and celebrities to vaccines.
In contrast, a scientific study published in 2022 in The Lancet indicated that COVID-19 vaccines saved nearly 20 million lives in their first year, though even more deaths could have been prevented if international vaccination targets had been met.
In a telephone interview, Dr. Alejandro Macías, an infectious disease specialist and former commissioner against the A-H1N1 virus in Mexico, criticized the fact that a legislator had invited three skeptics. “I believe that the person he organized has a responsibility as well. Senators are supposed to have criteria, why do they accept without any consideration people who already know what point of view they are going to present in one of the highest tribunes of the republic?
“In addition, they put it on a silver platter, because they feel they have the ability to make decisions and even change behaviors. It seems very serious to me, ”he added.
Eleven of the 19 attendees who appear in a camera shot, including Deputy Antonio Pérez Garibay, indicated that they consider that vaccination has more risks than benefits after a question from Kirsch.
In social networks, some users celebrated that these panelists have reached one of the largest stands in the country. “In the Mexican Senate, telling the truth about toxic vaccines and the parasite pandemic from the Davos forum,” a person identified as Robert LH wrote on Twitter.
“My family and I are not vaccinated and we are healthier than those who are vaccinated, all the vaccinated I know are constantly sick. The vaccine lowers the body’s natural defenses,” a YouTube user by the name of Kingfisher commented on the Senate broadcast.
“Vaccination of the entire population must be stopped immediately. Many children are being vaccinated and are in danger if doses of gene therapies continue to be applied,” another person said in the comments section of the video uploaded by the Senate. The AP has previously reported that COVID-19 vaccines do not modify genes like gene therapies.
After the conference in the Senate, a publication that accumulates 5,000 interactions on Twitter affirmed that the Mexican government decided to suspend the acquisition of vaccines due to the comments by Malone and Kirsch. But to date the Ministry of Health has not announced that this has happened. The reinforcement of the biological continues to be applied in some locations such as Mexico City and Puebla, verified AP.
At a press conference on February 28, López-Gatell said that vaccination in 2023 would no longer be “universal” due to the immunity achieved among the population. “The immune system protection of the combined people of Mexico possibly exceeds 90%,” she explained.
The most recent data from the Ministry of Health show that in the country there are 99 million people over the age of 5 who have received the first dose of the vaccine, which represents 84% of the population that currently exceeds 118 million people. .
AP contacted the press area of the Ministry of Health to find out its position on the conference and the publications with misinformation about vaccination, but it only indicated that it “keeps the population informed through its official channels.”
