Dr. Marc Siegel on 'real misinformation' of pandemic: They focused on 'spread' not 'severity'
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel weighs in on Pfizer's admission that the vaccine's ability to prevent transmission was never tested.
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel is calling on the entire medical community to "rebel" against California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new law that will punish doctors who spread COVID-19 "misinformation."
The law will subject doctors to discipline and possible suspension of their licenses for spreading "misinformation" to patients on key issues including vaccinations and medications.
"Science moves slowly," Siegel said on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday. "You don't develop a consensus in the middle of a pandemic."
California doctor and Ph.D. research scientist Dr. Houman Hemmati also spoke out against the new law, calling it unconstitutional and unethical on "Fox & Friends First."
‘THE VIEW’ HOSTS' MOST BLATANT COVID MISINFORMATION AND PANIC MOMENTS
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 14: Gov. Gavin Newsom holds up a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on December 14, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jae C. Hong-Pool/Getty Images)
"It’s really a tragedy," Hemmati said. "We know already what the impact is. I've heard several stories of physicians who refuse to discuss COVID with their patients."
He warned that doctors are self-censoring in an effort to avoid potential lawsuits despite new information still being learned about the virus.
"We have things changing on a day-to-day basis. And what was misinformation yesterday is fact today," Hemmati said.
"When they said taking the vaccine prevents you from ever getting COVID, prevents you from ever spreading COVID, we know that that is no longer the case."
Hemmati was referring to a stunning admission by a Pfizer executive that the company’s COVID vaccine was not tested for its ability to decrease transmission before it went to the public.
Janine Small, president of international developed markets at Pfizer, made the bombshell remarks while testifying before the European Parliament Monday. Small chuckled and said officials were working at "the speed of science" to get the vaccine to the market.
Siegel said the main problem is that only a small group of individuals were studied before the vaccine's rollout.
"The vaccine itself was designed not to prevent transmission. It is not called a barrier vaccine. It doesn't work here in the nostrils. It works inside the lungs, and it decreases severity," Siegel explained.
The doctor argued the "real misinformation" of the pandemic was the focus on stopping the spread of the virus by mandating new vaccines rather than talking about the severity of the virus itself.
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"It helps you," Siegel said of the vaccine, "but it doesn’t prevent spread."
Siegel warned that people will stop listening to state leaders and health officials due to laws like Gov. Newsom’s.
"When you start that dogmatic, condescending rule on people, you lose them," he said.
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