British MP Andrew Bridgen has called on the government to halt the use of mRNA Covid vaccines, which he claimed are “not safe, not effective, and not necessary”. The Conservative MP also claimed that there is a “conspiracy of silence” around Covid vaccine injuries in the UK.
Speaking before the House of Commons on 7 December, the Leicestershire MP said safety concerns should spell the end of the use of mRNA Covid jabs – as he urged the government to stop using a Covid vaccine recently approved for small children. His comments came during a debate focused around the potential harms of vaccines.
Out of Westminster’s 650 MPs, fewer than a dozen attended the debate chaired by Mr Bridgen.
Earlier this month, a low dose Pfizer Covid vaccine was authorised to be administered to babies as young as six months old and children up to four years old by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRH). The address follows Mr Bridgen’s comments on Prime Minister’s Question Time last week, during which he called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to overturn the decision to approve the vaccine for children, adding that mRNA vaccines “are not recommended for pregnant women or those who are breastfeeding”.
Throughout the debate, the Tory backbencher cited a range of figures to support his claims, and told the House that:
“Since the rollout in the U.K. of the BioNTech-Pfizer mRNA vaccine, we have had almost half a million reports of adverse effects from the public.”
He also called into question the effectiveness of Covid vaccines, as he claimed that “real-world data from the UK during the three-month wave of Omicron at the beginning of this year reveals that we would need to vaccinate 7,300 people over the age of 80 to prevent one death.”
Almost half a million yellow card reports of adverse effects following administration of the Biotech Pfizer mRNA vaccine in the UK alone!
Answers are desperately needed.#completelyunprecedented pic.twitter.com/aYTKXDaRMO
— Andrew Bridgen MP (@ABridgen) December 15, 2022
Mr Bridgen, who has served as a Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire since 2010, also accused a prominent person in charity British Heart Foundation of suppressing “clear” evidence that the Covid vaccine is inflicting heart damage for fear it may lose funding from the pharmaceutical industry.
During his address, he claimed:
“It has also been brought to my attention by a whistle-blower from a very reliable source that one of these institutions is covering up clear data that reveals that the mRNA vaccine increases inflammation of the heart arteries”.
“It is covering this up for fear that it may lose funding from the pharmaceutical industry. The lead of that cardiology research department has a prominent leadership role with the British Heart Foundation, and I am disappointed to say that he has sent out non-disclosure agreements to his research team to ensure that this important data never sees the light of day”.
He said this was an “absolute disgrace”, as Mr Bridgen continued to raise his concerns and stated that this “systemic failure in an over-medicated population” also contributes to a “huge waste of British taxpayers’ money and increasing strain on the NHS”.
Maria Caulfield MP, who is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, argued in response that Covid vaccines are safe and have been properly scrutinised by the regulator. She did, however, acknowledge the cases where people have been injured with a link to vaccination.
“We know that there are some circumstances where individuals have sadly experienced harm with a possible link to a vaccination. I recognise how difficult that is for those individuals and their families,” she said, adding:
“We have put measures in place to monitor any possible side effects and to commission further research that will help us better understand how to diagnose and treat those who have suffered or continue to suffer any ill effects from a covid-19 vaccine.
“That is the case for any medicine—even with a simple medicine such as paracetamol, people can get side effects—and that is why every medicine that is prescribed and dispensed has a patient safety information sheet listing the most likely side effects and encouraging people to report any that may not be included”.
Sharing his address to his Twitter account, the MP said that answers were “desperately needed” as he described the reports of adverse effects as “completely unprecedented”.
British Heart Foundation responds
In response, the British Heart Foundation said it “strongly refuted” all allegations made by the MP. In a statement shared to social media. The UK cardiovascular research charity, which funds medical research related to heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors, said it “did not recognise these claims” as it fired back at the MP.
“We do not recognise these claims and strongly refute all allegations made about colleagues in senior leadership roles within the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
“As a trusted provider of heart health information, we are committed to being completely independent, and take great care to be accurate and transparent with all public health information,
“We would encourage those making these serious allegations to share specific, credible information with us which supports them”.
The statement concluded: “The BHF’s advice on vaccines is based on vigorous scrutiny of the latest evidence, which to date shows that the benefits of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine greatly outweigh the risk of extremely rare side effects for the vast majority of people”.
Our response to comments made by Andrew Bridgen MP. pic.twitter.com/tcnuT2jtTu
— British Heart Foundation (@TheBHF) December 14, 2022
Student who suffered perimyocarditis starts petition
Mr Bridgen’s address in Parliament comes amid calls for those who have suffered an adverse reaction following Covid vaccination to receive greater acknowledgement and help. In the UK, a number of people who have suffered adverse reactions to the Covid-19 vaccine have called for better compensation. Last week, a former ballroom dancer from Kent, told iTV News that while he is not anti-vaccination, he wants the “very small percentage of people you’ve had medically documented” side effects to be “properly looked after”.
Maxwell Harrison, who represented Great Britain in international dance competitions, had to give up his passion after being diagnosed with a rare heart condition after being jabbed. The 22-year-old law student used to travel worldwide to perform until he suddenly started experiencing heart palpitations just days after his second Covid jab in September 2021.
The student said: “I started getting mild chest pain. I thought it was just heartburn – nothing too serious. But it was on the ninth or tenth day after receiving the vaccine that I experienced a cardiac event”.
He said it was a “very long time” before his heart condition was attributed to the second Covid vaccine.
“I couldn’t breathe, I was in extreme pain, [having] palpitations. I was training for the world championships, and even at the competition itself I had to have the help of paramedics.
“So, it became very clear very quickly that something wasn’t right but it wasn’t for a very long time that we could attribute it to the second vaccine itself.”
In medical letters seen by the news outlet, Maxwell was told he had “vaccine-induced perimyocarditis” – a combination of two conditions listed as “very rare side effects” in official patient information leaflets for the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccination.
That document explains that ‘inflammation of the heart muscle – myocarditis – or inflammation of the lining outside the heart – pericarditis’ may affect ‘up to 1 in 10,000’ vaccine recipients.
The dancer has now started a petition calling for a change in the law to allow more people who have had an adverse reaction to the Covid jabs to be able to claim government compensation. He argues that the existing scheme, under the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979, has too high a threshold.
To be eligible for vaccine injury compensation under the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979 a person has to be 60% disabled.
Mr Maxwell said: “I am not trying to discourage the vaccine. All I’m trying to do is say look, there are genuine cases of adverse reactions, that’s all. If we can acknowledge that, we can have a better conversation and that very small percentage of people you’ve had those genuine, medically documented adverse reactions, they can be properly looked after”.