Andrew Joseph , 2025-09-07 16:07:00
LONDON — A British cardiologist who has touted his connections to top Trump administration health officials has set off a furor in U.K. health circles after giving a speech at a political conference in which he made a number of false claims about the Covid-19 vaccine.
Speaking at the conference of the ascendant right-wing political party Reform U.K., the doctor, Aseem Malhotra, said that “mRNA jabs have likely killed or seriously harmed millions of people across the world” and claimed a top oncologist told him the shots were a factor in cases of cancer that have afflicted members of the British royal family.
“What I’m telling you today is nobody is immune to medical misinformation because of this corrupted system,” Malhotra said at Reform’s conference in Birmingham. Reform later moved to distance itself from Malhotra’s remarks.
Throughout his speech, Malhotra also spoke of what he described as his close ties with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary who has also made repeated false claims about the dangers of the Covid vaccines and undermined their effectiveness. Malhotra said he’s in “constant communication” with Kennedy, a relationship that began, Malhotra said, in 2022 after the cardiologist called for a moratorium on the use of mRNA vaccines.
Malhotra is also the chief medical adviser at the MAHA Action advocacy group, which has connections to Kennedy allies and has moved to rally support for Kennedy’s moves as health secretary. He’s been photographed with Kennedy and also shared a post on his Instagram account of him and Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health.
Studies have shown the Covid shots saved millions of lives. Scientists have also been tracking what have been found to be rare side effects, including cases of a heart inflammation called myocarditis that’s been seen largely in adolescent boys with the mRNA shots, but there is no evidence that the vaccines have caused anything like widespread death.
Malhotra’s remarks contained “repetitions of often used anti-vax tropes that have been extensively disproven,” Brian Ferguson, a professor of viral immunology at the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. He added: “Evidence that mRNA vaccines have done more harm than good just does not exist and claims that they did do not stand up to scrutiny.”
Experts also disputed Malhotra’s claims about vaccines and cancer, which came after both King Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales, announced cancer diagnoses last year.
“There is no good evidence of a link between the Covid-19 vaccine and cancer risk,” Cancer Research U.K. said. “The vaccine is a safe and effective way to protect against the infection and prevent serious symptoms.”
Malhotra’s speech reflects the ongoing salience of pandemic-era grievances and how populist politicians, from the U.S. to Brazil to Austria, have sought to leverage and stoke persistent resentment that a segment of voters continues to feel. In the U.S., President Trump’s alliance with Kennedy was seen as a move to get Kennedy’s group of dedicated supporters to back Trump’s campaign.
In the U.K., Reform, which has centered its anti-immigrant message, has been surging in polls and is now trying to portray itself as a reasonable alternative to the two main political parties, Labour and the Conservatives. Before the conference, medical groups had expressed their concerns that by giving Malhotra a platform, Reform leader Nigel Farage was effectively embracing anti-vaccine rhetoric.
But after Malhotra’s speech, Reform sought to set itself apart from the doctor, saying in a statement that he was “a guest speaker with his own opinions.”
“Reform U.K. does not endorse what he said but does believe in free speech,” it said.
Malhotra opened his speech by thanking Farage and Reform for inviting him to speak.
Malhotra said he and Kennedy have connected over their concerns about both mRNA vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry’s influence in medical research and regulatory decision making. In his speech, Malhotra praised Kennedy’s move last month to largely halt the government’s support for mRNA vaccine research, an action widely decried in scientific circles but that Malhotra said “is a great achievement.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately comment Sunday.
During his remarks, Malhotra hit on a number of common talking points used by once-fringe medical figures who have been elevated since the pandemic.
He described drug companies as “psychopathic” and said the World Health Organization, which he said was a front group for pro-vaccine messaging, had been “captured” by Bill Gates.
Speaking about mRNA vaccines, he also said, “It is highly likely not a single person should have been injected with what is better described as a gene therapy than as a vaccine.” (Vaccine critics have called the mRNA shots “gene therapies” to allege they change a person’s DNA, which they do not do.)
Malhotra kept his focus on the mRNA Covid vaccines, but health and government officials warned that such attacks could stoke misguided fears about immunizations broadly. U.K. health officials have already been warning about declining vaccination rates among children, which have fueled cases of illnesses like measles and pertussis.
Wes Streeting, the U.K. health secretary, said on social media Saturday that Farage should apologize for allowing Malhotra to speak and should “sever all ties with this dangerous extremism.”
“With falling numbers of parents getting their children vaccinated, and a resurgence of disease we had previously eradicated, it’s shockingly irresponsible for Farage to give a platform to these poisonous lies,” Streeting said.