Covid jab may have caused royal cancers, says Reform speaker

British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra claimed that it was “highly likely” vaccines may have been a factor in cancers among members of the royal family. Health secretary Wes Streeting criticised Reform for giving a platform to “poisonous lies”.

Malhotra said he was sharing with the conference the views of an expert who he considered was one of the UK’s most eminent cancer doctors. “He thinks it’s highly likely the Covid vaccines have been a factor, a significant factor, in the cancer of members of the royal family.”

A Reform spokesperson distanced the party from his views. They said it did not endorse what he said, but stressed it “believes in free speech”.

Malhotra is chief medical adviser to the US group MAHA Action, which is championing the agenda of US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to “Make America Healthy Again”. Malhotra has advised Kennedy on health issues. Both are l ong-established vaccine sceptics

Malhotra told the conference in Birmingham that hundreds of studies showed the harms of mRNA vaccines and that they were interfering with genes. “It may be a risk factor for cancer,” Malhotra said at a talk entitled Make Britain Healthy Again.

He was introduced to the conference by party chairman Dr David Bull, who described him as a “brilliant clinician”.

Streeting said it was “irresponsible” of the party to allow Malhotra to speak f rom the stage in Birmingham, with claims about the pharmaceutical industry, politicians and the World Health Organization yesterday.

Streeting said: “When we are seeing falling numbers of parents getting their children vaccinated, and a resurgence of disease we had previously eradicated, it is shockingly irresponsible for Nigel Farage to give a platform to these poisonous lies.”

Medical experts also criticised Malhotra. Brian Ferguson, professor of viral immunology at the University of Cambridge, said the speaker had indulged in “meaningless pseudoscience”.

The link between the Covid jab and cancer has been dismissed by academics and oncologists after claims it led to “turbo cancers”.

“This kind of outlandish conspiracy theory only serves to undermine the credibility of those spreading it.” Ferguson said the evidence showed vaccines had saved millions of lives.

During his 15-minute speech on the final day of the conference, Malhotra said having the Covid vaccine was more likely to cause harm than the virus itself. He said: “What does that mean? It is highly likely that not a single person should have been injected with this.”

He also claimed the WHO had been “captured” by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and urged for it to be replaced. At a separate fringe event at the conference Malhotra said the UK should “leave” the WHO.

He hit out at health minister Stephen Kinnock, who had criticised Malhotra before his speech, calling him an “anti-vax conspiracy theorist”.

He said: “What do we do about this? I think it’s time to just say no, to all drugs that are being proved, unless they are independently evaluated. Everybody just needs to say no.Over the last few years, it’s very clear that, with the evidence, the drug industry are responsible for probably killing millions of people.”

Before the speech Reform delegates, including senior figures within the party, told The Observer they were sympathetic to Malhotra's position on Covid vaccines, but insisted they were not against vaccines more generally. One said they regretted having had the jab, which was required at the time for international travel and some work, because they believed they were being “experimented on”.

A Reform UK spokesman said: “Dr Aseem Malhotra is a guest speaker with his own opinions who has an advisory role in the US government. Reform UK does not endorse what he said but does believe in free speech.”

Photograph by Leon Neal/Getty