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Michael Yeadon is a British anti-vaccine activist and retired pharmacologist who attracted media attention for making false or unfounded claims about the COVID-19 pandemic and the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. The Times has described him as "a hero of Covid conspiracy theorists" and "a key figure in the antivax movement". 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.

Career

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Yeadon received his PhD under Ian Kitchen at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK. His thesis was in the respiratory system of rats. 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.

He served as the chief scientist and vice-president of Pfizer's allergy and respiratory research unit in Sandwich, Kent, where he oversaw the development of drugs for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 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.

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., which was later sold to Novartis for $325 million in 2017.

COVID-19 misinformation

Yeadon falsely claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom was "effectively over" in October 2020, that there would be no "second wave" of infections, and that healthy people could not spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus. He has claimed without evidence that COVID-19 vaccines were unnecessary, unsafe, and could cause infertility in women. 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 that mRNA vaccines could target the syncytin-1 protein needed for placenta formation. In an interview with 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. 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. Yeadon has also discouraged COVID-19 lockdowns and the use of face masks despite evidence for their effectiveness. He has alleged that the vaccines cause recipients to become magnetic. Several of Yeadon's claims have been amplified on social media.

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. Interviewed on Bannon’s War Room podcast. Yeadon indicated be would be providing support for “U.S. politicians and influencers."

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. 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." Multiple fact-checkers have debunked this claim.

References

1. ^ "Fact Check-Fact check: Ex-Pfizer scientist repeats COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in recorded speech". Reuters Fact Check. 20 May 2021.
2. Osaki, Tomohiro (29 June 2021). "In Japan, anti-vaccine movement threatens to make widespread hesitancy worse". The Japan Times.
3. ^ Lee, Ella (18 November 2021). "Fact check: Former Pfizer VP spreads false claim about COVID-19 vaccines and child deaths". USA Today.
4. Parker, Charlie (28 August 2021). "The new breed of antivaxers". The Times. London.
5. ^ Ellery, Ben (15 August 2021). "Mike Yeadon: Antivaxer with eye on Lib Dems plans resort for unjabbed". The Times. London.
6. ^ Stecklow, Steve; Macaskill, Andrew (18 March 2021). "The ex-Pfizer scientist who became an anti-vax hero". Reuters.
7. "UPDATED: Ex-Pfizer crew snags $27M financing for U.K. drugs startup". FierceBiotech. 5 November 2012.
8. "Ziarco chooses Discovery Park as base for new drug development". Pharma Business International. 10 November 2015.
9. Yeadon, Michael (August 1988). Receptor mechanisms involved in opioid induced respiratory depression in the rat (doctoral thesis). University of Surrey – via ProQuest.
10. 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.
11. ^ Harrison, Charlotte (1 February 2013). "Mike Yeadon". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 12 (2): 96–96. doi:10.1038/nrd3936. ISSN 1474-1784.
12. Dapcevich, Madison (5 May 2021). "Did Michael Yeadon Say COVID-19 Vaccine Will Kill Recipients Within 2 Years?". Snopes.
13. 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.
14. ^ Scientists vs Science: Interviews with Mike Yeadon and Robert Malone, Logically, Ernie Piper, July 20, 2021. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
15. "Pfizer helps fund biotech venture from former researchers at closed Kent facility". PMLive. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
16. "Novartis Annual Report 2017" (PDF). Basel: Novartis. 2018. pp. 162, 198.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
17. ^ Swenson, Ali (30 November 2020). "Coronavirus pandemic is not 'effectively over' as op-ed claims". Associated Press.
18. McCarthy, Bill (2 December 2020). "Former Pfizer employee wrong that coronavirus pandemic is 'effectively over' in UK". PolitiFact.
19. ^ Kasprak, Alex (10 March 2021). "Did Pfizer's Former 'Chief Scientist' Say There Was 'No Need for Vaccines'?". Snopes.
20. ^ "Former Pfizer scientist wrong on asymptomatic COVID-19 spread". AAP FactCheck. Australian Associated Press. 14 May 2021.
21. Lajka, Arijeta (20 April 2021). "Vaccines are needed to end the pandemic, prevent serious illness". Associated Press.
22. ^ "Mike Yeadon wrong again on lockdowns and face masks". Full Fact. 23 April 2021.
23. Palma, Bethania (4 December 2020). "Did 'Head of Pfizer Research' Say COVID-19 Vaccine 'Is Female Sterilization'?". Snopes.
24. Rigby, Jennifer (30 June 2021). "How the Covid-19 vaccine fertility myth lapped the globe". The Telegraph. London.
25. Gregory, John (13 September 2021). "The Top COVID-19 Vaccine Myths Spreading Online". Encyclopedia Britannica. NewsGuard.
26. Dupuy, Beatrice (20 April 2021). "No evidence that COVID-19 vaccine results in sterilization". Associated Press.
27. 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.
28. ^ O'Rourke, Ciara (10 December 2020). "No, Pfizer's head of research didn't say the COVID-19 vaccine will make women infertile". PolitiFact.
29. Jaramillo, Catalina (26 February 2021). "No Evidence Vaccines Impact Fertility". FactCheck.org.
30. 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.
31. ^ "Fact Check-No evidence to support claim by ex-Pfizer scientist on COVID-19 vaccine safety in children". Reuters Fact Check. 16 November 2021.
32. ^ Kertscher, Tom (15 November 2021). "Kids '50 times more likely to be killed' by COVID-19 vaccines? Pants on Fire". PolitiFact.
33. Wu, Katherine J. (10 December 2020). "No, there isn't evidence that Pfizer's vaccine causes infertility". The New York Times.

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

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