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Is there justified uproar about the podcast interview by George Christensen on the topic of coronavirus vaccines? Let us examine the facts.

Federal MP for Queensland George Christensen’s podcast Conservative One is back, but not everyone is happy about it.

In his new series called Pandemic Unmasked, Christensen interviews Dr Robert Malone and Dr Peter McCullough. But because both experts have voiced criticism of blanket vaccine mandates and raised concern about the safety profile of mRNA vaccines for the young and healthy, Christensen faced fury in Canberra this week.

Political Pushback

Speaking to reporters, Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said of the podcast, “it is promoting vaccine hesitancy, it is promoting activity which is a danger to people’s health.”

“Mr Morrison should have kicked George Christensen out of his government by now,” Labor Senator Penny Wong tweeted, in remarks that were echoed by talking heads in the legacy media.

Not one to waste an opportunity for an insult, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd complained that “this anti-vaccine nut job” was allowed to “remain in [Morrison’s] political party propping up his government”.

“Listen to the Experts” — except when they don’t match the narrative?

Had Christensen’s critics listened to the Pandemic Unmasked series, they would have learned that both Malone and McCullough are some of the most qualified medical experts in the world.

Robert Malone is an internationally recognised scientist — a virologist, immunologist, and molecular biologist who has more than thirty years of experience in vaccines. Malone was part of the team that discovered and patented mRNA vaccine technology, having ten patents in his name. His publications have been cited some 7,000 times.

Peter McCullough is a consultant cardiologist with over 1000 publications, making him the most published scientist in the history of his field. He is also Vice Chief of Medicine at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and one of America’s leading physicians on the early treatment of COVID-19.

Tilting at Strawmen

It is clear from their interview that neither Malone, McCullough nor Christensen are ‘anti-vaxx’.

But this didn’t stop the Canberra press pack and the political pile-on. Prime Minister Scott Morrison quickly felt the effects of the faux-outrage and sought to distance himself from the matter.

“Don’t listen to George Christensen,” he told cameras. “He’s not a doctor. He can’t tell you what to do with vaccines… He is allowed to speak his mind, but Australians shouldn’t be listening to him.”

As Dave Pellowe put it in The Spectator this week:

On Wednesday a ‘journalist’ asked the Prime Minister, ‘Why have you allowed him the freedom…?’

A so-called journalist wanted to know why the leader of the government allowed a popularly elected Member of Parliament to: question the status quo (like a journalist should); survey and publish alternative views of concerned, eminently qualified experts (like a journalist should); and to critique the excesses of governments and bureaucracies around the nation (like a journalist should)…

George Christensen has become a litmus test, a gauge revealing the character and integrity of those who comment on him. Do they blow with the winds of populism, or do they hold fast to the first principles which should have guided us all through the initial unknowns of the Wuhan Flu?

The same day, Morrison told the media that he was ‘discussing’ George Christensen’s Committee Chairman role with Barnaby Joyce. By the afternoon, Christensen had announced that he intends to “stand down as the chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth,” adding that it was “a decision of my own making and not a demand or request from any third party”.

Dying Democracy

Disappointed in the antics in Canberra this week, another Queensland Senator weighed in. Gerard Rennick posted on Facebook:

You know free speech and genuine debate is dead in this country when an elected official cannot express a valid opinion that is actually based on credible information without being piled on by the jackals in the media and his own government.

Why is it okay for politicians to tell people to “take the jab” but it’s not okay for politicians to say “don’t take the jab”?

As I’ve pointed out on numerous occasions there are serious quality assurance issues around the Pfizer trials for children (and adults for that matter).

Genuine Concerns

Rennick’s post was accompanied by an image that captured the irony. It quoted Scott Morrison urging Australians, “Go to the credible sources of information on vaccines, and George Christensen is not one of them.” Directly following were words taken directly from the World Health Organisation’s website:

There are currently no efficacy or safety data for children below the age of 12 years. Until such data are available, individuals below 12 years of age should not be routinely vaccinated.

As I wrote earlier this week:

The Pfizer vaccine trial, which is not testing enough children below the age of 12 to detect rare adverse events, is scheduled for completion in May 2023. In other words, children who take the Pfizer vaccine before this date are effectively part of the drug trial.

Christensen doesn’t have to be an expert in vaccines for you to listen to his podcast. His most prominent guests are — and they have a lot of sensible things to say that should be engaged with, not censored.

To listen to Pandemic Unmasked, visit George Christensen’s website here.

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