The Censorship Pandemic


by Jule Klotter

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Over the past few years, I have noticed a marked increase in tactics that limit access to medical information that challenges the pharmaceutical-corporate status quo. Research studies about vaccine safety have been withdrawn from publication,1,2 a researcher who studies aluminum neurotoxicity was defunded,2 and Google has developed algorithms that hide non-pharmaceutical treatments.3 During the 2020 pandemic, censorship has heightened. Suppression of information that does not concur with official views has taken many forms.

Back in March, respected Stanford professor John Ioannidis, a researcher in statistics and biomedicine, was castigated in the press for questioning the models that predicted a 3-4% death rate from COVID-19.4,5 His opinion that lockdown measures would cause more harm than the virus itself—an opinion consistent with his “longstanding body of work” on the harms caused by medical interventions—was widely disparaged in media.5 A few weeks later, he published a study with 16 co-authors, using real data from Santa Clara county, California; the study estimated an infection fatality rate of 0.12-0.2%, which is slightly lower than estimates from other studies.5 This study was heavily criticized and discounted as being part of a political agenda.

Minnesota state senator and practicing family physician Scott Jensen was reported, anonymously, to the state medical board for “spreading misinformation on a regional tv station…claiming that the Minnesota Department of Health instructed providers to list COVID-19 as the cause of death on death certificates regardless of whether a patient died of COVID-19.”6 During the TV news report, Jensen explained that the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) had sent an email to physicians, such as himself, that said “COVID-19 should be reported for all decedents where COVID-19 caused, is assumed to have caused, or contributed to death.” The MDH email also provided a link to a CDC seven-page document that said “it is acceptable to report COVID-19 as the cause of death without laboratory confirmation if the circumstances are ‘within a reasonable degree of certainty.’” In his response to the medical board, Jensen wrote: “…the initiating disease in the train of events leading to death has long been the basis for data and statistical compilation so as to inform public health policy, legislation, and even funding for disease control initiatives….I was alarmed that the nature of the April 3 MDH email seemed to ‘coach physicians’ to complete death certificates in a manner outside standard practices and protocols.” 6 The medical board dismissed this complaint. Six weeks later, Jensen received notice of yet another anonymous complaint to the medical board for making “misleading” statements about COVID-19 in another video.7

While mainstream media have closely followed government officials’ call for social distancing, mask wearing, and lockdowns until a vaccine becomes available, possible treatments have been censored and/or discredited. Reporters ignored reports about MATH+, an integrative protocol developed by critical care clinicians (https:flaccc.net)—even though one of the doctors, Dr. Pierre Kory, testified about its effectiveness in treating hospitalized patients before the US Senate Committee for Homeland Security and Government Affairs on May 6, 2020.8

US Federal Trade Commission ordered David Brownstein, MD, “to stop making any statements about…treatment protocols of Vitamins A, C and D as well as nutritional IV’s, iodine, ozone and nebulization to support the immune system with respect to Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19).”9 As a result, Dr. Brownstein posted on his website, “What this means is that I will not be able to blog, post, tweet, email, etc. for awhile.”9

In July 2020, America’s Frontline Doctors, a group founded by Simone Gold, MD, JD, faced censorship and smears after holding press conferences in which practicing physicians related their experiences when using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients.10 The group also videotaped a two-day White Coat Summit during which practicing physicians related their experiences and concerns about official COVID policies. Facebook and YouTube removed the press conference video, seen by over 15 million people. Twitter “forced” them to remove physicians’ video testimonials.11 Squarespace, the group’s web host, removed their entire website; the group had to re-build on another site. The doctors were smeared across corporate and social media as conspiracy theorists and for providing “medical misinformation.” Simone Gold, who has served as an emergency room doctor for 20 years, was fired from her job for appearing at the White Coat Summit. She has hired a lawyer.

In September, a group of Philippine doctors who have used inexpensive treatments to treat early stage COVID tried to publicize the available treatment resources and the terrible economic and health consequences from the ongoing lockdown of their citizens.12 Like America’s Frontline Doctors, the Philippine practitioners were smeared and threatened with criminal lawsuits, according to integrative physician Homer Lim, MD. Media failed to report about the treatment options. Andrew W. Saul, PhD, was unable to share Dr. Lim’s report on Facebook: “When I (AWS) posted Dr. Lim’s protocol on Facebook, I was immediately banned by Facebook from further posting of any kind for 30 days.”

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I have come to believe that censorship and the smear campaigns against the doctors and researchers who question the prevailing COVID-19 narrative is far more dangerous to our health than the virus. If the only permitted response to a health crisis is the one espoused by government agencies (and their corporate allies), we can expect to lose access to any form of alternative or integrative care. The doctor-patient relationship will be overseen by bureaucrats that follow agency laws. Moreover, real-world observations by practicing doctors—which have historically been a primary source for improvements in medical care—will be squashed. Doctors who dare to step outside the prescribed guidelines in order to offer individualized care will be called before medical boards and lose their licenses. California has already passed a law (SB 276) that limits the number of medical vaccination exemptions that a doctor can write without attracting medical board attention.

Censorship, smear campaigns, job loss, medical board complaints, retaliation from government regulators—these are deterrents that produce the greatest threat: self-censorship. Fear of persecution understandably prevents practitioners from publicly disputing government/corporate medical care. But as Scott Jensen says in his September 6, 2020 video, “This is not the time to stay silent.”

And there is strength in numbers. If you are concerned about censorship, particularly censorship in medicine, find and support the groups that are trying to shine light on the information that corporate media wants to hide, groups like Physicians for Informed Consent (https://physiciansforinformedconsent.org/). And share information with others.

As Scott Jensen, MD, said in his September 6 video, “…COVID-19 has opened a door into a tremendously vicious non-discussion.” It is an opportunity that we need to seize.


References

  1. Klotter J. The “Retracted” Studies. Townsend Letter. December 2017;63-64.
  2. Klotter J. More Censorship. Townsend Letter. June 2019;40-41.
  3. Klotter J. Google Censorship. Townsend Letter. November 2019; 11-12.
  4. Jha S. A Conversation with John Ioannidis. The Health Care Blog. July 9, 2020.
  5. Lenzer J, Brownless S. Opinion: John Ioannidis and Medical Tribalism in the Era of Covid-19. June 11, 2020. Undark.org
  6. Jensen S. Response Letter to Minnesota Board of Medical Practice. July 2, 2020. Available at https://thehighwire.com/senator-scott-jensens-medical-board-investigation-documents/.
  7. Jensen S. Jensen S. How does one become ‘a danger to public health”? September 6, YouTube or bitchute.com.
  8. Kamen J. An Open letter to Mainstream Media, mainstream Medicine, and Elected Officials Who Were Told Months Ago Has to Save Tens of Thousands of Lives. August 2, 2020. Medium.com
  9. Shilhavy B. FTC Shuts Down Dr. Brownstein’s Blog for Explaining How He Was Curing COVID-19 Patients. Health Impact News. May 14, 2020.
  10. Lynn C. COVID-19: The Coverup, The Cure, and Key Evidence. August 7, 2020. Coreysdigs.com
  11. Gold S. Help Support American’s Frontline Doctors! Fundly.com
  12. Lim H. It’s Time to Flatten the Fear of COVID. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service. October 2, 2020.