‘America’s Frontline Doctors’ Continue to Misinform on COVID

On July 29, 2020, we reported that many members of America’s Frontline Doctors, a physician group that spread misinformation about the pandemic, had little to no experience treating COVID-19 patients. Here, we take a look at the messages that group has continued to spread during the pandemic.

A physician group that rampantly spread COVID-19 misinformation is back in the spotlight — but this time, sowing doubt about the vaccine.

America’s Frontline Doctors, an organization that claims to provide uncensored, accurate information about the pandemic, became infamous in July after a viral press conference that protested government lockdown restrictions and spread inaccuracies ranging from the ineffectiveness of masks to claims that hydroxychloroquine could “cure” COVID-19.

Now, those same doctors — the majority of which have no experience treating COVID-19 patients — have launched a campaign to warn Americans that they should not be forced to take an “experimental vaccine,” while failing to mention the safety trials and large phase III efficacy trials, along with the fact that no vaccine mandate exists.

The day before Pfizer’s vaccine was administered at healthcare facilities across the country, Simone Gold, MD, JD, who founded the group, spoke in front of the CDC headquarters in Atlanta to warn on potential safety hazards.

“The first point that we want to bring out is the fact that this is an experimental vaccine, and not a vaccine at this point,” Gold said in a video shared on her Twitter account.

“Experimental vaccines should NEVER be mandated or forced by businesses or govt. This choice should always remain between a doctor and a patient,” she wrote in the post.

“For anyone considering the Pfizer vaccine, know that you are getting an EXPERIMENTAL vaccine,” James Todaro, MD, a member of America’s Frontline Doctors, wrote on Twitter. Todaro, a former practicing ophthalmologist who is now a blockchain investor, stated that Americans should “think twice if you are under 50 yrs old with an [infection fatality rate] under 0.02%.”

These claims were not backed by data and neither member provided examples of vaccine mandates. Gold and Todaro did not respond to requests for comment from MedPage Today.

Physicians and medical experts were outraged by these sentiments, stating that clinicians who have actually treated COVID patients on the frontlines would never support these claims.

“For the record, nearly all the frontline doctors I’ve worked with and spoken to who’ve actually taken care of critically ill COVID-19 patients and seen how horrible this virus can be have been eagerly getting in line and grateful to roll up their sleeves,” Craig Spencer, MD, MPH, an emergency physician at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University in New York City, wrote on Twitter.

Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, a vaccine researcher from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, emphasized that no American is being forced to take a vaccine, and criticized the credentials of any clinician who would oppose immunization.

“No real frontline doctor objects to this vaccine,” Hotez wrote on Twitter. “Only the antivax, ‘health freedom’ movement linked to right wing extremism.”

Angela Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist at Georgetown University, stated that there is no such thing as “forcing” anyone to get vaccinated.

“This would be funny if it’s not the same pathetic, cynical, thirsty, self-serving grifting that intentionally sown doubt in public health expertise and resulted in 300,000 dead Americans,” Rasmussen wrote on Twitter.

America’s Frontline Doctors launched a petition to “prevent people from being intimidated or pressured into taking experimental vaccines,” which has more than 34,000 signatures. The organization also published a white paper claiming to debunk COVID-19 “myths,” which includes information about the “censorship” on the benefits of hydroxychloroquine and potential dangers of the vaccine (the group actively discourages use of a vaccine even for groups at high-risk of severe COVID-19, instead recommending “early or prophylactic treatment with established medications”).

The organization has also made attempts to incite fear about the vaccine within the Black community by falsely pushing the conspiracy that Black Americans will be used as a mass trial for the “experimental therapy,” VICE reported.

Video of the group’s July press conference was shared by President Donald Trump before major social media platforms removed it due to misinformation. After the video went viral, MedPage Today could not confirm where Gold practiced medicine. Her former employer has since rejected that Gold is a member of its staff and denounced all of her claims. Gold has since authored a book called I Do Not Consent: My Fight Against Medical Cancel Culture, which chronicles her experience treating COVID-19 patients.

Other members of America’s Frontline Doctors have come under fire for spreading politicized and inaccurate information about COVID-19. In November, MedPage Today reported that Richard Urso, MD, a member of the organization, was the subject of a complaint to the Texas Medical Board for prescribing hydroxychloroquine to patients with COVID-19. The board dismissed these claims.

Another Texas-based physician and member of the group, Stella Immanuel, MD, announced that she was under investigation by the state’s medical board as well. Immanuel trumpeted hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19 during the group’s July press briefing. She has since continued to promote the anti-malarial for COVID-19 and is now warning against what she calls the “luciferase vaccine.”

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