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Michael Yeadon

February 19, 2023

Michael Yeadon is a British anti-vaccine activist[1][2][3] and retired pharmacologist who attracted media attention in 2020 and 2021 for making false or unfounded claims about the COVID-19 pandemic and the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.[4][2] The Times has described him as "a hero of Covid conspiracy theorists"[5] and "a key figure in the antivax movement".[6] He previously served as the chief scientist and vice-president of the allergy and respiratory research division of the drug company Pfizer, and is the co-founder and former CEO of the biotechnology company Ziarco.[7][8][9]

Career

Yeadon received his PhD under Ian Kitchen at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK. His thesis was in the respiratory system of rats.[10] Yeadon worked with Salvador Moncada at the Wellcome Research Laboratories, focusing on airway hyper-responsiveness and the effects of pollutants such as Ozone and Nitrogen oxide, as well as working on drug discovery of 5-LO and COX.[11]

He served as the chief scientist and vice-president of Pfizer's allergy and respiratory research unit in Sandwich, Kent,[12][7] where he oversaw the development of drugs for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).[13] During his work at Pfizer, Yeadon was responsible for the selection of targets and the progression of new molecules into human trials. His unit developed inhaled and oral NCEs that showed positive results in clinical trials for asthma, allergic rhinitis and COPD.[14][verification needed]

When Pfizer closed its Kent research facility in 2011. Yeadon, who had not worked with vaccines, then left Pfizer and with three colleagues founded the biotechnology company Ziarco,[7][12][15][16] for which he served as CEO and which was sold to Novartis for $325 million in 2017.[7][17]

COVID-19 misinformation

See also: COVID-19 misinformation and COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and hesitancy

Yeadon falsely claimed in an October 2020 blog post that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom was "effectively over".[18][19][a] He stated that there would be no "second wave" of infections[7][21] and that healthy people could not spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus.[2][22] Yeadon has also discouraged COVID-19 lockdowns and the use of face masks despite evidence for their effectiveness.[23] Several of Yeadon's false or misleading claims have been amplified on social media.[2][7][24][25][18][26]

Yeadon has claimed without evidence that COVID-19 vaccines were unnecessary,[27][22][21] unsafe,[2][23] and could cause infertility in women.[2][7][28] In a letter to the European Medicines Agency, Yeadon and the German physician Wolfgang Wodarg called for all vaccine trials to be stopped, falsely suggesting[29][30][31][32] that mRNA vaccines could target the syncytin-1 protein needed for placenta formation.[33][34][b] A Telegram account under his name has promoted the unfounded claim that the vaccines cause recipients to become magnetic.[16]

Yeadon has been interviewed by The Exposé, a website known for publishing COVID-19 misinformation.[37] In an interview with American political strategist Steve Bannon, Yeadon falsely asserted that children were "50 times more likely to be killed by the COVID vaccines than the virus itself", citing a high number of events following COVID-19 vaccination reported on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database.[25][38][4] The US Centers for Disease Control, which operates the database, cautions that such reports are not verified and do not prove that vaccines caused any given adverse event.[25][38]

Political activism

Yeadon founded the Liberal Spring movement in the UK, with the goal of turning the Liberal Democrats into a movement for "Covid-sceptic beliefs", according to The Times.[6] He has contributed funding to Liberty Places, a group promising to build a community on the African archipelago of Zanzibar for Europeans to escape COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates.[1] Interviewed on Bannon's War Room podcast, Yeadon indicated he would also be providing support for “U.S. politicians and influencers".[16]

Publications

  • Yeadon, Michael; Diamant, Zuzana (2000). New and exploratory therapeutic agents for asthma. New York: Marcel Dekker. ISBN 0-585-25139-8. OCLC 45730917.

Notes

  1. ^ In a November 2020 interview with talk show host Julia Hartley-Brewer, Yeadon falsely stated that the pandemic was "fundamentally over in the UK".[20]
  2. ^ Wodarg and Yeadon wrote, "There is no indication whether antibodies against spike proteins of SARS viruses would also act like anti-Syncytin-1 antibodies. However, if this were to be the case, this would then prevent the formation of a placenta which would result in vaccinated women essentially becoming infertile."[26] Multiple fact-checkers have debunked the latter claim.[35][36]

References

  1. ^ a b Lytton, Charlotte; Dodds, Io (26 March 2022). "Why anti-vaxxers are starting new lives in exclusive tropical communes". The Telegraph. London. from the original on 28 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Fact Check-Fact check: Ex-Pfizer scientist repeats COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in recorded speech". Reuters Fact Check. 20 May 2021.
  3. ^ Osaki, Tomohiro (29 June 2021). "In Japan, anti-vaccine movement threatens to make widespread hesitancy worse". The Japan Times. from the original on 29 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b Lee, Ella (18 November 2021). "Fact check: Former Pfizer VP spreads false claim about COVID-19 vaccines and child deaths". USA Today.
  5. ^ Parker, Charlie (28 August 2021). "The new breed of antivaxers". The Times. London.
  6. ^ a b Ellery, Ben (15 August 2021). "Mike Yeadon: Antivaxer with eye on Lib Dems plans resort for unjabbed". The Times. London.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Stecklow, Steve; Macaskill, Andrew (18 March 2021). "The ex-Pfizer scientist who became an anti-vax hero". Reuters.
  8. ^ "UPDATED: Ex-Pfizer crew snags $27M financing for U.K. drugs startup". FierceBiotech. 5 November 2012.
  9. ^ . Pharma Business International. 10 November 2015. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021.
  10. ^ Yeadon, Michael (August 1988). Receptor mechanisms involved in opioid induced respiratory depression in the rat (doctoral thesis). University of Surrey – via ProQuest.
  11. ^ Hodgson, Simon T.; et al. (1993). "Design and synthesis of achiral 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors employing the cyclobutyl group". Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters. 3 (12): 2565–2570. doi:10.1016/S0960-894X(01)80717-4. ISSN 0960-894X.
  12. ^ a b Harrison, Charlotte (1 February 2013). "Mike Yeadon". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 12 (2): 96. doi:10.1038/nrd3936. ISSN 1474-1784. PMID 23370238.
  13. ^ Dapcevich, Madison (5 May 2021). "Did Michael Yeadon Say COVID-19 Vaccine Will Kill Recipients Within 2 Years?". Snopes.
  14. ^ Hansel, T. T.; Barnes, P. J. (2010). New Drugs and Targets for Asthma and COPD. Karger Medical and Scientific Publishers. ISBN 978-3-8055-9567-4.
  15. ^ "Pfizer helps fund biotech venture from former researchers at closed Kent facility". PMLive. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  16. ^ a b c Piper, Ernie (20 July 2021). "Scientists vs Science: Interviews with Mike Yeadon and Robert Malone". Logically. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  17. ^ "Novartis Annual Report 2017" (PDF). Basel: Novartis. 2018. pp. 162, 198. (PDF) from the original on 21 November 2022.
  18. ^ a b Swenson, Ali (30 November 2020). "Coronavirus pandemic is not 'effectively over' as op-ed claims". Associated Press News.
  19. ^ McCarthy, Bill (2 December 2020). "Former Pfizer employee wrong that coronavirus pandemic is 'effectively over' in UK". PolitiFact.
  20. ^ Teoh, Flora (10 November 2020). "A rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths starting in September 2020 contradicts the claim by Michael Yeadon that 'the pandemic is fundamentally over in the U.K.'". Health Feedback. Science Feedback.
  21. ^ a b Kasprak, Alex (10 March 2021). "Did Pfizer's Former 'Chief Scientist' Say There Was 'No Need for Vaccines'?". Snopes.
  22. ^ a b "Former Pfizer scientist wrong on asymptomatic COVID-19 spread". AAP FactCheck. Australian Associated Press. 14 May 2021.
  23. ^ a b "Mike Yeadon wrong again on lockdowns and face masks". Full Fact. 23 April 2021.
  24. ^ Wu, Katherine J. (10 December 2020). "No, there isn't evidence that Pfizer's vaccine causes infertility". The New York Times.
  25. ^ a b c "Fact Check-No evidence to support claim by ex-Pfizer scientist on COVID-19 vaccine safety in children". Reuters Fact Check. 16 November 2021.
  26. ^ a b O'Rourke, Ciara (10 December 2020). "No, Pfizer's head of research didn't say the COVID-19 vaccine will make women infertile". PolitiFact.
  27. ^ Lajka, Arijeta (20 April 2021). "Vaccines are needed to end the pandemic, prevent serious illness". Associated Press News.
  28. ^ Palma, Bethania (4 December 2020). "Did 'Head of Pfizer Research' Say COVID-19 Vaccine 'Is Female Sterilization'?". Snopes.
  29. ^ Gregory, John (13 September 2021). "The Top COVID-19 Vaccine Myths Spreading Online". Encyclopedia Britannica. NewsGuard.
  30. ^ Rigby, Jennifer (30 June 2021). "How the Covid-19 vaccine fertility myth lapped the globe". The Telegraph. London. from the original on 9 July 2021.
  31. ^ Dupuy, Beatrice (20 April 2021). "No evidence that COVID-19 vaccine results in sterilization". Associated Press News.
  32. ^ "False: Michael Yeadon, head of research at Pfizer, stated that the mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 causes infertility in women". International Fact-Checking Network, Poynter Institute. 4 December 2020.
  33. ^ Sajjadi, Nicholas B.; et al. (2021). "United States internet searches for 'infertility' following COVID-19 vaccine misinformation". Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. 121 (6): 583–587. doi:10.1515/jom-2021-0059. PMID 33838086.
  34. ^ Schraer, Rachel (11 August 2021). "Covid vaccine: Fertility and miscarriage claims fact-checked". BBC News.
  35. ^ Jaramillo, Catalina (26 February 2021). "No Evidence Vaccines Impact Fertility". FactCheck.org.
  36. ^ Eschner, Kat (5 November 2021). "NFL's Aaron Rodgers said fertility concerns kept him from getting vaccinated. Here's what's behind the fertility myth". Fortune. from the original on 18 November 2021.
  37. ^ Piper, Ernie (22 July 2021). "EXCLUSIVE: Actors Behind UK Misinformation Site The Daily Expose Revealed". Logically. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  38. ^ a b Kertscher, Tom (15 November 2021). "Kids '50 times more likely to be killed' by COVID-19 vaccines? Pants on Fire". PolitiFact.

Further reading

  • Marshall, Michael (9 December 2021). "Pfizer scientist turned anti-vaxxer Dr Mike Yeadon wins 2021 Rusty Razor award for pseudoscience". The Skeptic.
  • McDermott, Stephen (30 May 2021). "Debunked: Claims by an ex-Pfizer employee about Covid-19 and vaccines are false and misleading". TheJournal.ie.
  • "Video falsely claims that you cannot refuse the Covid-19 vaccines". Full Fact. 6 September 2021.

External links

  • ResearchGate profile

February 19, 2023
michael, yeadon, british, anti, vaccine, activist, retired, pharmacologist, attracted, media, attention, 2020, 2021, making, false, unfounded, claims, about, covid, pandemic, safety, covid, vaccines, times, described, hero, covid, conspiracy, theorists, figure. Michael Yeadon is a British anti vaccine activist 1 2 3 and retired pharmacologist who attracted media attention in 2020 and 2021 for making false or unfounded claims about the COVID 19 pandemic and the safety of COVID 19 vaccines 4 2 The Times has described him as a hero of Covid conspiracy theorists 5 and a key figure in the antivax movement 6 He previously served as the chief scientist and vice president of the allergy and respiratory research division of the drug company Pfizer and is the co founder and former CEO of the biotechnology company Ziarco 7 8 9 Contents 1 Career 2 COVID 19 misinformation 3 Political activism 4 Publications 5 Notes 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksCareerThis section may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral Please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable independent third party sources July 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Yeadon received his PhD under Ian Kitchen at the University of Surrey in Guildford UK His thesis was in the respiratory system of rats 10 Yeadon worked with Salvador Moncada at the Wellcome Research Laboratories focusing on airway hyper responsiveness and the effects of pollutants such as Ozone and Nitrogen oxide as well as working on drug discovery of 5 LO and COX 11 He served as the chief scientist and vice president of Pfizer s allergy and respiratory research unit in Sandwich Kent 12 7 where he oversaw the development of drugs for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD 13 During his work at Pfizer Yeadon was responsible for the selection of targets and the progression of new molecules into human trials His unit developed inhaled and oral NCEs that showed positive results in clinical trials for asthma allergic rhinitis and COPD 14 verification needed When Pfizer closed its Kent research facility in 2011 Yeadon who had not worked with vaccines then left Pfizer and with three colleagues founded the biotechnology company Ziarco 7 12 15 16 for which he served as CEO and which was sold to Novartis for 325 million in 2017 7 17 COVID 19 misinformationSee also COVID 19 misinformation and COVID 19 vaccine misinformation and hesitancy Yeadon falsely claimed in an October 2020 blog post that the COVID 19 pandemic in the United Kingdom was effectively over 18 19 a He stated that there would be no second wave of infections 7 21 and that healthy people could not spread the SARS CoV 2 virus 2 22 Yeadon has also discouraged COVID 19 lockdowns and the use of face masks despite evidence for their effectiveness 23 Several of Yeadon s false or misleading claims have been amplified on social media 2 7 24 25 18 26 Yeadon has claimed without evidence that COVID 19 vaccines were unnecessary 27 22 21 unsafe 2 23 and could cause infertility in women 2 7 28 In a letter to the European Medicines Agency Yeadon and the German physician Wolfgang Wodarg called for all vaccine trials to be stopped falsely suggesting 29 30 31 32 that mRNA vaccines could target the syncytin 1 protein needed for placenta formation 33 34 b A Telegram account under his name has promoted the unfounded claim that the vaccines cause recipients to become magnetic 16 Yeadon has been interviewed by The Expose a website known for publishing COVID 19 misinformation 37 In an interview with American political strategist Steve Bannon Yeadon falsely asserted that children were 50 times more likely to be killed by the COVID vaccines than the virus itself citing a high number of events following COVID 19 vaccination reported on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System VAERS database 25 38 4 The US Centers for Disease Control which operates the database cautions that such reports are not verified and do not prove that vaccines caused any given adverse event 25 38 Political activismYeadon founded the Liberal Spring movement in the UK with the goal of turning the Liberal Democrats into a movement for Covid sceptic beliefs according to The Times 6 He has contributed funding to Liberty Places a group promising to build a community on the African archipelago of Zanzibar for Europeans to escape COVID 19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates 1 Interviewed on Bannon s War Room podcast Yeadon indicated he would also be providing support for U S politicians and influencers 16 PublicationsYeadon Michael Diamant Zuzana 2000 New and exploratory therapeutic agents for asthma New York Marcel Dekker ISBN 0 585 25139 8 OCLC 45730917 Notes In a November 2020 interview with talk show host Julia Hartley Brewer Yeadon falsely stated that the pandemic was fundamentally over in the UK 20 Wodarg and Yeadon wrote There is no indication whether antibodies against spike proteins of SARS viruses would also act like anti Syncytin 1 antibodies However if this were to be the case this would then prevent the formation of a placenta which would result in vaccinated women essentially becoming infertile 26 Multiple fact checkers have debunked the latter claim 35 36 References a b Lytton Charlotte Dodds Io 26 March 2022 Why anti vaxxers are starting new lives in exclusive tropical communes The Telegraph London Archived from the original on 28 March 2022 a b c d e f Fact Check Fact check Ex Pfizer scientist repeats COVID 19 vaccine misinformation in recorded speech Reuters Fact Check 20 May 2021 Osaki Tomohiro 29 June 2021 In Japan anti vaccine movement threatens to make widespread hesitancy worse The Japan Times Archived from the original on 29 November 2021 a b Lee Ella 18 November 2021 Fact check Former Pfizer VP spreads false claim about COVID 19 vaccines and child deaths USA Today Parker Charlie 28 August 2021 The new breed of antivaxers The Times London a b Ellery Ben 15 August 2021 Mike Yeadon Antivaxer with eye on Lib Dems plans resort for unjabbed The Times London a b c d e f g Stecklow Steve Macaskill Andrew 18 March 2021 The ex Pfizer scientist who became an anti vax hero Reuters UPDATED Ex Pfizer crew snags 27M financing for U K drugs startup FierceBiotech 5 November 2012 Ziarco chooses Discovery Park as base for new drug development Pharma Business International 10 November 2015 Archived from the original on 27 April 2021 Yeadon Michael August 1988 Receptor mechanisms involved in opioid induced respiratory depression in the rat doctoral thesis University of Surrey via ProQuest Hodgson Simon T et al 1993 Design and synthesis of achiral 5 lipoxygenase inhibitors employing the cyclobutyl group Bioorganic amp Medicinal Chemistry Letters 3 12 2565 2570 doi 10 1016 S0960 894X 01 80717 4 ISSN 0960 894X a b Harrison Charlotte 1 February 2013 Mike Yeadon Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 12 2 96 doi 10 1038 nrd3936 ISSN 1474 1784 PMID 23370238 Dapcevich Madison 5 May 2021 Did Michael Yeadon Say COVID 19 Vaccine Will Kill Recipients Within 2 Years Snopes Hansel T T Barnes P J 2010 New Drugs and Targets for Asthma and COPD Karger Medical and Scientific Publishers ISBN 978 3 8055 9567 4 Pfizer helps fund biotech venture from former researchers at closed Kent facility PMLive 5 November 2012 Retrieved 27 April 2021 a b c Piper Ernie 20 July 2021 Scientists vs Science Interviews with Mike Yeadon and Robert Malone Logically Retrieved 15 November 2022 Novartis Annual Report 2017 PDF Basel Novartis 2018 pp 162 198 Archived PDF from the original on 21 November 2022 a b Swenson Ali 30 November 2020 Coronavirus pandemic is not effectively over as op ed claims Associated Press News McCarthy Bill 2 December 2020 Former Pfizer employee wrong that coronavirus pandemic is effectively over in UK PolitiFact Teoh Flora 10 November 2020 A rise in the number of COVID 19 cases and deaths starting in September 2020 contradicts the claim by Michael Yeadon that the pandemic is fundamentally over in the U K Health Feedback Science Feedback a b Kasprak Alex 10 March 2021 Did Pfizer s Former Chief Scientist Say There Was No Need for Vaccines Snopes a b Former Pfizer scientist wrong on asymptomatic COVID 19 spread AAP FactCheck Australian Associated Press 14 May 2021 a b Mike Yeadon wrong again on lockdowns and face masks Full Fact 23 April 2021 Wu Katherine J 10 December 2020 No there isn t evidence that Pfizer s vaccine causes infertility The New York Times a b c Fact Check No evidence to support claim by ex Pfizer scientist on COVID 19 vaccine safety in children Reuters Fact Check 16 November 2021 a b O Rourke Ciara 10 December 2020 No Pfizer s head of research didn t say the COVID 19 vaccine will make women infertile PolitiFact Lajka Arijeta 20 April 2021 Vaccines are needed to end the pandemic prevent serious illness Associated Press News Palma Bethania 4 December 2020 Did Head of Pfizer Research Say COVID 19 Vaccine Is Female Sterilization Snopes Gregory John 13 September 2021 The Top COVID 19 Vaccine Myths Spreading Online Encyclopedia Britannica NewsGuard Rigby Jennifer 30 June 2021 How the Covid 19 vaccine fertility myth lapped the globe The Telegraph London Archived from the original on 9 July 2021 Dupuy Beatrice 20 April 2021 No evidence that COVID 19 vaccine results in sterilization Associated Press News False Michael Yeadon head of research at Pfizer stated that the mRNA vaccine against SARS CoV 2 causes infertility in women International Fact Checking Network Poynter Institute 4 December 2020 Sajjadi Nicholas B et al 2021 United States internet searches for infertility following COVID 19 vaccine misinformation Journal of Osteopathic Medicine 121 6 583 587 doi 10 1515 jom 2021 0059 PMID 33838086 Schraer Rachel 11 August 2021 Covid vaccine Fertility and miscarriage claims fact checked BBC News Jaramillo Catalina 26 February 2021 No Evidence Vaccines Impact Fertility FactCheck org Eschner Kat 5 November 2021 NFL s Aaron Rodgers said fertility concerns kept him from getting vaccinated Here s what s behind the fertility myth Fortune Archived from the original on 18 November 2021 Piper Ernie 22 July 2021 EXCLUSIVE Actors Behind UK Misinformation Site The Daily Expose Revealed Logically Retrieved 10 August 2022 a b Kertscher Tom 15 November 2021 Kids 50 times more likely to be killed by COVID 19 vaccines Pants on Fire PolitiFact Further readingMarshall Michael 9 December 2021 Pfizer scientist turned anti vaxxer Dr Mike Yeadon wins 2021 Rusty Razor award for pseudoscience The Skeptic McDermott Stephen 30 May 2021 Debunked Claims by an ex Pfizer employee about Covid 19 and vaccines are false and misleading TheJournal ie Video falsely claims that you cannot refuse the Covid 19 vaccines Full Fact 6 September 2021 External linksResearchGate profile Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Michael Yeadon amp oldid 1137715554, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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