SNP conference host faces axe from parenting website over anti-vax tweets

Matthews, 39, has been introducing the main debates and speakers at the SNP’s three-day conference which ends today and is being held online because of the global coronavirus crisis.

The conference host wrote on Twitter that a coronavirus conspiracy was “speaking the truth” and that nature is the “best medicine”, as opposed to a vaccine.

The Scottish Government encourages all parents of primary school pupils to have their children given the flu jab with health staff visiting schools to administer the vaccine, mostly via a nasal spray.

Covid vaccines have also been strongly welcomed by the Scottish Government and one million Scots could be immunised by the end of January 2021.

Ministers, the NHS and other public bodies are keen to stamp out the views of “anti-vaxxers” and others spreading peddling false information amid concerns it will stop people having the vaccine and therefore prolong the pandemic.

READ MORE: SNP conference host deletes Twitter account after sharing ‘anti-vaxxer’ posts

Nicola Sturgeon was asked about Matthews’ involvement in Parent Club when she took questions today at the government daily coronavirus briefing.

She said: “On the Parent Club thing, I am not aware of that but obviously we’ll look into that. What I do know, and I’ve put messages myself on Parent Club over the course of the pandemic that the information that goes out … is very carefully quality checked.”

The First Minister said she had seen the media reports and that Matthews had been hired as part of the conference’s technical team. She added: “The views I have seen attributed to her today are absolutely emphatically not the views of the SNP or the Scottish Government.”

She stated: “I have read a view from her that she will absolutely have get the vaccine when it is available.”

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has recently confirmed that public health information on the vaccine will be released on why it is safe.

And the First Minister has also previously stated: “I think all of us should guard against buying into conspiracy theories on the internet or anywhere else, and on Covid, that is obviously particularly important.”

SNP led Glasgow city council earlier this month launched a crackdown on those spreading disinformation about Covid and vaccines in response to conspiracy theories mushrooming online.

Matthews, a former STV and BBC employee, wrote on Twitter “Would not let my kid have a flu jab or have any covid s***e! Love from Scotland.”

She also liked a tweet which said “The vaccine should be tested on politicians first. If they survive, the vaccine is safe. If they don’t, then the country is safe.”, and other tweets such as “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again only louder. NO LOCKDOWN NO TRACK NO TEST NO MASK NO VAX.”, and “Your compliance ensures our enslavement, WAKE UP”.

Matthews wrote in a column in October that she was not an “anti-vaxer” but then wrote: “The big pharma companies assure us they’re safe however, the less chemicals pumped in us, surely the better, no? I started researching heavy metal detoxing and the benefits on child behaviours and adult health so I’m going to give it a go as the metals in these vaccines worry me greatly.

“So that’s why I’ve decided not to get the flu jab or give it to my eight-year-old. Instead I’m upping vitamin C to 1000mg daily, we’re all on probiotics and taking more of the good stuff.”

She added: “By all means get your flu jab if that’s what’s best for you. However, this winter the kids and I will be rolling about in the mud and eating worms because nature’s the best medicine.”