BBC gives anti-vaxxers an unchallenged platform; Receives praise from insulted lawmaker who compared Covid shooting to the Holocaust

The BBC has sparked controversy after giving a critic of the Covid-jab a virtually unchallenged platform on its current news channel.

The British broadcaster interviewed Dr. Aseem Malhotra opened up on a story about cholesterol drugs on Friday morning, but the vaccine skeptic hijacked the conversation to spread fan conspiracies about Covid injections.

The exchange is going viral in anti-vax social media circles. The BBC said this was refuted later in the program by a leading professor who championed the “overwhelming scientific consensus on the vaccine”.

Malhotra told BBC presenter Lukwesa Burak that his research had shown that coronavirus vaccines “carried a cardiovascular risk”. He said they had contributed to a further 30,000 deaths from heart disease in the UK since the pandemic began.

“It’s medically proven, isn’t it?” asked Burak.

Malhotra replied that there was “a lot of data” to support his claim. “The vaccine has certainly helped people at high risk, but we need to be reassured about that now [the] Omicron in circulation is really no worse than flu. It’s really time to pause the vaccine rollout,” he added.

Burak did not challenge him further. Malhotra’s research was debunked by Health Feedback, a World Health Organization-backed group that reviews scientific claims about vaccine safety in the media. Numerous studies have shown that vaccines are safe and effective.

The British Heart Foundation attributed the number of deaths to “extreme disruption of the heart supply” in the UK amid a national health service crisis.

Malhotra celebrated the interview on Twitter, claiming he had hacked into the “mainstream media” and argued that Covid vaccines should be put on hold pending further investigation. His video was viewed more than 800,000 times in less than four hours.

The interview drew praise from prominent anti-vaccination groups, notably Andrew Bridgen, a British lawmaker who was suspended by the ruling Conservative Party earlier this week for comparing Covid vaccinations to the Holocaust.

“Finally something on BBC News expressing concern about the harm of the mRNA ‘vaccine,'” Bridgen said, echoing Malhotra’s interview.

Nigel Farage, Donald Trump ally and presenter of the right-wing GB News, said: “It’s telling, watch this clip… The BBC of all places is calling for a real investigation into the damage it is contributing to excessive deaths.”

BBC insiders reacted very differently. One told Deadline that the interview was an “absolute horror” and accused the Outputs scholarship of being underfunded.

Medical experts mocked the BBC. Alastair McAlpine, an infectious diseases paediatrician, tweeted: “The BBC have failed epically. Being an Antivaxx is literally this guy’s whole trick. You should be so ashamed.”

DR David Robert Grimes said: “So @BBCNews invited Aseem Malhotra on statins and he went off with misinformation about COVID vaccines. It was predictable and a damning failure of caution. Now he boasts mainstream presence, a pernicious asset for false balance. Make it better #BBC – disappointing.”

The BBC said: “Dr. Aseem Malhotra was invited to the BBC News Channel to present the latest NICE recommendations on statins. During the discussion he made unsolicited claims about the Covid mRNA vaccine. We then asked Professor Peter Openshaw, who represents the overwhelming scientific consensus on the vaccine, to do an on-air interview on the subject and he denied and refuted the claims made.