Thank you for visiting nature.com. Yeadon called for an end to mass testing and claimed that 30% of the population was already immune to COVID-19 even before the pandemic started. Want to send us something for verification? John reported that the videos misleading narrative that the vaccines create variants has been gaining traction in France for several weeks. ", In November, Yeadon appeared in a 32-minute video for the anti-lockdown group, Unlocked, sitting in a shed with a motorbike behind him. When, in September 1983, Montagnier presented the results at a small, late-night session of a scientific meeting at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, his audience was sceptical. The two teams then waged an epic patent war over who should have the intellectual-property rights to a diagnostic test based on the virus. Previously, she reported for the Bradenton Herald and the Tampa Bay Times. The EIN for the organization is 59-1630423. The fake claim started after a report was published in LifeSiteNews, a Canadian far-right anti-abortion advocacy and news publication. Are you out to actively kill people? They described him as a knowledgeable and intelligent man who always insisted on seeing evidence and generally avoided publicity. More recently, David Kurten, a member of the London Assembly an elected body tweeted there is a "real danger" that COVID-19 vaccines could leave women infertile. In a Twitter thread, vaccine science expert Prof Gagandeep Kang, of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, has also provided evidence as to why these claims are baseless. Yeadon didn't make clear what tweet he was referring to. Then again, do Fox News viewers care? The virus is going to try to evolve to escape natural immunity, even if you choose not to get vaccinated., She added: Either people are going to get sick and get COVID-19, and the virus tries to escape that immune selection, or people can be vaccinated and the virus is going to try to escape that immune selection. The next day, on Feb. 4, Yeadon cryptically mentioned in a tweet, "I'll soon be gone. His allegation came after the United States had launched a probe into whether the virus came from a laboratory. Researchers speculated wildly: some blamed fungi or chemical exposure. He embarked on the activity that has spawned countless researchers: tinkering with explosive compounds in a home laboratory. he claimed that COVID-19 vaccines led to the evolution of coronavirus variants, according to the Journal. Yeadon didn't respond to requests for comment for this article. ISSN 1476-4687 (online) Montagnier was born on 18 August 1932 in Chabris, France. . 727-821-9494. stated on May 22, 2021 in a Facebook post: Says Luc Montagnier said, There is no hope and no possible treatment for those who have been vaccinated already. I've never heard such nonsense talked about vaccines. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Montagniers Nobel prize lent weight to his damaging views that the COVID-19 vaccine could be harmful. (The concept of water memory had been championed by French immunologist Jacques Benveniste in a 1988 Nature paper that was later found to be irreproducible (J. Maddox et al. Claim: It is clear that the new variants are created by antibody-mediated selection due to the vaccination and contrary to the public. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00653-y. Even though the virologist did speak about "antibody-dependent enhancement" he certainly did not say that vaccinated people will die within two years or there is no hope and no possible treatment for those who have been vaccinated already. ((Reporting by Steve Stecklow and Andrew MacAskill; Edited by Janet McBride)). The B.1.617 variant of SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in Maharashtra on December 7, 2020. An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday. Yeadon isn't the only respected scientist to have challenged the scientific consensus on COVID-19 and expressed controversial views. While ADE was a concern initially contemplated by scientists creating COVID-19 vaccines. But it turned out to be identical to LAV, samples of which Montagnier had supplied to his lab. There is no evidence to back up this claim, nor was Reuters able to find any instance where the laureate made this comment. Instead, Montagnier shared the prize for physiology or medicine with Barr-Sinoussi; virologist Harald zur Hausen was also honoured, for his unconnected discovery that human papillomaviruses are linked to cervical cancer. Let us look at the science and the evidence. Viruses try to create variants in order to escape immunity but thats any immunity vaccine-induced or natural, which arises from being infected. Britain soon entered a much more deadly second wave. A video on Facebook shows French virologist Luc Montagnier claiming that the COVID-19 vaccines create the variants. And, "There is no biological principle that leads us to expect a second wave." Since then, the disease has killed about another 80,000 people in the UK. "COVID-19 vaccines are the best way to protect people from coronavirus and will save thousands of lives.". Research Scientist - Chemistry Research & Innovation, POST-DOC POSITIONS IN THE FIELD OF Automated Miniaturized Chemistry supervised by Prof. Alexander Dmling, Ph.D. POSITIONS IN THE FIELD OF Automated miniaturized chemistry supervised by Prof. Alexander Dmling, Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute opens A SENIOR RESEARCHER POSITION IN THE FIELD OF Automated miniaturized chemistry supervised by Prof. Alexander Dmling. This would likely not happen if ADE were occurring, because it is an acute and very serious condition that would cause significant medical alarm., False. First, its important to note that we found no evidence that this video is doctored. References to Yeadon's petition appear on the website of a group founded by influential vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., scion of the American political dynasty, who recently was banned on Instagram because of his COVID-19 vaccine posts. The spike protein on the viruss surface binds to human cells to facilitate its entry. The Government of Indias Press Information Bureau fact-checker has also called this a piece of fake news. We need your help. They should take COVID-19 vaccines as soon as these are available to them. The multiple vaccines developed by major pharma giants globally have remained embroiled in a series of controversies being pushed by anti-vaxxers. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. 2021;325(13):1241-1243. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.3370, Scientists reveal structural details of how SARS-CoV-2 variants escape immune response, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/fully-vaccinated-people.html, Register for reporter access to contact details, It is clear that the new variants are created by antibody-mediated selection due to the vaccination. The petitioners made a bold demand: Halt COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. Who is Ethan Hooper? At the time, a movement had emerged in Britain against lockdowns and other restrictions meant to curb the disease. If a person is infected with DENV1 and develops neutralising antibodies, is subsequently infected with DENV2, preexisting antibodies will bind to but not neutralise DENV2. While at Ziarco, Yeadon also worked as a consultant for several years at two Boston-area biotech companies, Apellis Pharmaceuticals and Pulmatrix Inc. March 1, 2023. Many experts doubt that, but so far there is no way to prove or. It's impossible to measure the impact of Yeadon's claim that COVID-19 vaccines could cause female infertility. Does it die or find another solution? "I simply showed chutzpah and asked the senior-most people up the research line" at Pfizer to support the venture, Yeadon later recalled in an interview with Forbes. The virus is always going to try to evolve to promote its own survival, said Dr. Sarah Fortune, chair of the Immunology and Infectious Diseases department at Harvard T.H. First, several of the variants that are circulating in the global population emerged before COVID-19 vaccines were widely available, like B.1.1.7, the variant that emerged in the United Kingdom in September 2020. The French biologist, Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 for the discovery of HIV, was among the first to denounce the artificial origin of SARS-Cov-2 altered precisely with the insertion of sequences of the AIDS virus.. And in January 2022 Montagnier reiterated the danger of an increase in cancer cases after the launch of the massive vaccination campaign with boosters (third, fourth and now . By September 2020, Yeadon's statements were attracting attention beyond Twitter. Full vaccination is 96% effective in preventing Delta-caused hospitalizations. Montagnier didn't respond to a request for comment. "Yeadon's background gives his dangerous and harmful messages false credibility.". But Montagniers interview does not include the statement about vaccinated people dying within two years. He co-authored a lengthy article on a website called Lockdown Sceptics. Yeadon has said he personally doesn't oppose the use of all vaccines. But many health experts and government officials worry that opinions like his fuel vaccine hesitancy a reluctance or refusal to be vaccinated that could prolong the pandemic. This is a phenomenon in which virus-reactive antibodies increase the efficiency of virus infection. In December, Yeadon posted on Twitter a spoof sign that said, "DITCH THE MASK." While we can go back, proofread and correct our errors, viruses are unable because their enzymes cannot proofread or make corrections. Second, the vaccines help reduce the spread of the virus, therefore decreasing the likelihood that it will mutate and create new variants. Enjoy your life, I guess," read another Tweet. * He says that ADE would lead to much stronger infection by variants in vaccinated people. As a result my account was locked. It also interviewed five people who know him, including four of his former colleagues at Pfizer. He invoked the debunked notion of water memory, arguing that the water is altered by the DNA in a way that retains some properties of the molecules even when they have been heavily diluted. 2008 Nobel Prize winner Luc Montagnier said that COVID-19 coronavirus disease was artificially created in a lab by biologists working on an AIDS vaccine. According to the CDC, a growing body of evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have asymptomatic infection and potentially less likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others.3 Stopping the spread of COVID means slowing mutations of the virus too. But she told Reuters that it has made her hesitant to take a vaccine, as she'd like to have children "sooner than later.". The New York Times, Discoverers of AIDS and cancer viruses win Nobel, Oct. 7, 2008, HuffPost, Luc Montagnier, prix Nobel controvers, accuse des biologistes d'avoir cr le coronavirus, April 17, 2020, Reuters, Fact check there is no evidence to suggest COVID-19 vaccines will kill people by causing antibody-dependent enhancement, current evidence demonstrates the opposite, May 26, 2021, RAIR Foundation USA, Bombshell: Nobel prize winner reveals - COVID vaccine is creating variants, May 18, 2021, RAIR Foundation USA, ALERT: Luc Montagnier did NOT say vaccine would kill people in two years - heres what he DID say (video), May 25, 2021. He is currently director, Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University. He said Yeadon and his team were let go by Pfizer, however, when the company made the strategic decision to exit the therapeutic area they were researching. Slow vaccine uptake can cause more variants, since the virus continually looks to evolve and escape any immunity natural or vaccine-induced. There is no evidence the vaccines are creating more variants. View all Meeting, Grants & Events Channels, Luc Montagnier, a French virologist and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine, Multiple French social media posts that have been shared by thousands, JAMA. The developments are likely to fuel vaccine hesitancy further, although there is no evidence of a causative link between the AstraZeneca product and the affected patients' conditions. ISSN 0028-0836 (print). Novartis was betting on the promise of a Ziarco drug, known as ZPL389, that had the potential to be a "first-in-class oral treatment for moderate-to-severe eczema," a common and sometimes debilitating rash. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. They will all die from antibody dependent enhancement. Nothing more can be said., Montagnier won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2008 with fellow scientist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi for their work identifying the HIV virus, More recently, Montagnier has been criticised for comments regarding HIV and the immune system, as well as a claim that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was leaked from a laboratory. Internet Explorer). International Business Times, Singapore Edition. "Science is always a series of questions and the testing of those questions and when we are not allowed to ask those questions, then science is lost.". Luc Montagnier rose to scientific prominence and won a Nobel prize for co-discovering HIV. I want you to know of course that I didn't write it." And Luc Montagnier, another Nobel Prize winner, said last year that he believed the coronavirus was created in a Chinese lab. Reuters was unable to find any instance of Montagnier saying the cited quote. Yeadon joined Twitter in October 2018 and soon became a prolific user of the platform. "His group was very successful and discovered a number of compounds that entered early clinical development," LaMattina told Reuters in an email. Instead, it allows the virus particle to attach better to cells that have the Fc- receptor on their surface. "Let more research come out." "We have become acutely aware of your views on COVID-19 over the last few months the single mindedness, lack of scientific rigour and one sided interpretation of often poor quality data is far removed from the Mike Yeadon we so respected and enjoyed working with. Virologist who won a Nobel prize for discovering HIV. The more opportunities a virus has to spread, the more it replicates and the more opportunities it has to undergo changes. 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