GP with ‘unblemished’ 40-year career gets 6-month suspension for ‘vitriolic’ anti-vaxx comments – including one that kids were being ‘lined up’ to get a Covid vaccine that could ‘kill them’

A GP with an ‘unblemished’ career has been suspended for six months over ‘vitriolic’ comments she made about Covid and vaccines.

Londonderry-based Dr Mary McCloskey claimed the pandemic was a “fabrication” of the media and government and that jabs are not working and are killing people.

She also claimed that tests and face masks were being used as psychological weapons to spread fear and that experts were “laughing” at the public by the way they named variants of the virus.

In one of her most inflammatory statements about Covid vaccines, she claimed that parents were ‘being told to put our children in line to get something that could kill them, to protect them from something that can’t kill them’.

Dr. McCloskey, who also goes by her middle name Anne, made the comments in a series of videos uploaded online between August and November 2021.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing late last month heard how she claimed in a video on August 21 that the dangers of the pandemic had been invented and promoted to the public.

“This whole hype is largely a fabrication of the media and the government and the deception of their lying scientific advisors,” she said.

In another, she claimed Covid vaccines were not being used to protect people’s health but instead harming them.

“Show people that these shots are killing people; they harm people; they do not prevent disease and they are not about health,” she said.

The 66-year-old also claimed that people who had received Covid jabs had done so under duress and had been ‘coerced, bribed or bullied’ into getting the shot.

She then claimed in another video on August 24 that PCR testing for the virus is a… ‘psychological weapon of governments to drive people into fear and terror’.

In that same video she claimed: ‘masks are there to keep us scared’ and that medical professionals were ‘forced’ to go along with the pandemic.

The MPTS also noted another video in November of the same year in which Dr McCloskey claimed experts were ‘laughing’ at the public by the way they named Covid variants.

“Well, it seems to me that they’re actually making fun of the naming, like they’re using an anagram of idiot,” she said.

“These people are actually making fun of the population, you know.”

Her ‘anagram’ comment is a reference to how the letters from Omicron, then the most pressing Covid variant of concern, can be rearranged to spell ‘idiot’.

This is a coincidence, as the World Health Organization has named Covid variants after the Greek alphabet, starting with Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and so on.

Dr. McCloskey also claimed that nurses did not work in hospitals, but “made TikTok videos and learned songs.”

The MPTS found these comments had the potential to undermine public health information, undermine public confidence in the medical profession and discourage people from getting the Covid vaccines.

“There was clear evidence that Dr. McCloskey’s actions had the potential to undermine public health information and impact the health and safety of the public,” she said.

While they claimed that Dr. McCloskey, like any medical professional, had the right to freedom of expression, they added that this was not an “unfettered right” and that in her case she had gone beyond what was unacceptable.

They stated: ‘The words and opinions stated went beyond legitimate freedom of expression and that Dr. McCloskey made ominous and inflammatory statements and used alarmist language.’

The tribunal also took particular note of the ‘idiotic’ comments made by Dr. McCloskey, because it “detracted from the seriousness of the situation.”

“There was clear evidence that Dr. McCloskey’s actions were likely to undermine public confidence in the medical profession and that in doing so there was a risk to public health and safety,” they said.

In their ruling, the MPTS also noted how Dr. McCloskey had repeatedly introduced herself as a GP in these videos to give her opinion extra authority.

‘Dr. McCloskey herself should have known that the audience of these videos and radio interviews would view her as a doctor; and therefore give more credence to her opinion as a result of this position,” it said.

They also noted statements she made in videos encouraging her audience to share her opinions.

“I want you to talk to people. I want you to inform yourself… I have brochures available. I’m going to have posters made,” she said in one sentence.

“I want you to share this video,” she said on another occasion.

The MPTS also found that she had clearly acted to discourage members of the public from receiving a Covid vaccine.

In their ruling, the tribunal said that Dr. McCloskey had ‘used her judgment poorly’.

“She has been unaware that her behavior would have a negative impact on the public and has undermined her medical colleagues while disrespecting their contribution to controlling the pandemic,” they said.

‘Given the vitriolic language she had used, Dr McCloskey caused alarm and forced her own views on the general public.’

However, in determining what sanction to impose on the GP, they emphasized that there was no suggestion that Dr McCloskey was not a competent doctor, and that no issues had arisen during her extensive career.

They also noted that given the unique circumstances of the Covid pandemic at the time, there was little risk of recurrence of these specific events.

But they added that since Dr. McCloskey has not apologized or apologized for her actions, there was an ongoing risk if she allowed her to practice.

‘The risk that Dr. McCloskey expresses views and takes actions that would pose a risk to public health and safety continues given her lack of acknowledgment of her serious misconduct,” they wrote.

They suspended her for six months and said there will be an evaluation at the end to determine if Dr. McCloskey is ready to return to practice as a doctor.

The tribunal wrote: ‘It is up to Dr. McCloskey to demonstrate how she has recovered and developed insight into her actions.”

Dr. McCloskey has 28 days to appeal the ruling.

Covid vaccines, like any medical product or drug, carry a risk of side effects, some of which are serious.

Some Britons have died as a result of the vaccine, although the figure is officially less than 100.

This includes those who died after being struck by a blood clot caused by an extremely rare reaction to the AstraZeneca shot that was missed during the original vaccine trials.

However, anti-vaxxers claim thousands have died from the jabs, but that is way off the mark, leading experts say.

Covid vaccines, which have been rolled out in the millions, have been repeatedly proven to be both safe and effective overall in preventing people from becoming seriously ill from the virus.

They are also credited with stopping the endless lockdowns that paralyzed the nation.

Globally, Covid vaccines are believed to have saved almost 20 million lives in their first year of existence.