Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily is a big fan of the anti-vaxxers who run something called the "Global COVID Summit," which exists mainly to put a false patina of legitimacy on fringe doctors who prefer dubious medicines like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin to vaccines as a way to fight COVID. The fact that documented misinformers like Robert Malone and Peter McCullough are associated with the group is reason enough to dismiss it. But because WND is dedicated to spreading COVID misinformation, we hear more about the group and get articles like this May 16 piece by misinformer Art Moore:
Decrying "disastrous" COVID-19 public health policies, more than 17,000 physicians and medical scientists from around the world are calling on nations to lift health emergency declarations, restore scientific integrity and address "crimes against humanity."
Among the signatories is Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of the mRNA technology behind the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, who argues that the concerns raised in the declaration go beyond COVID-19, threatening constitutional rights.
The fourth declaration of the Global COVID Summit states that the COVID policies imposed over the past two years "are the culmination of a corrupt medical alliance of pharmaceutical, insurance, and healthcare institutions, along with the financial trusts which control them."
"They have infiltrated our medical system at every level, and are protected and supported by a parallel alliance of big tech, media, academics and government agencies who profited from this orchestrated catastrophe," the signatories declare.
The "corrupt alliance" continues "to advance unscientific claims by censoring data, and intimidating and firing doctors and scientists for simply publishing actual clinical results or treating their patients with proven, life-saving medicine."
That, of course, is all conspiratorial claptrap; the "proven, life-saving medicine" being referred to is hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, which is neither. The reason why the emergency declaration was extended is because COVID hasn't gone away.
Moore is also helping the summit folks mislead about the number of signatories. The 17,000 number appears to refer only to those who signed the original declaration from the group, which ranted against vaccinating children against COVID, among other right-wing talking points; there's no evidence that the number of signatures have been confirmed or even if the signatories themselves -- which have largely been kept secret -- have been verified to be "physicians and medical scientists." That means the declaration is meaningless and shouldn't be trusted. Further, no evidence is provided that every single one of those people signed this fourth declaration as well.
Alos note that the screenshot Moore selected for this article from the summit shows the alleged doctors all wearing white lab coats, even though no self-respecting doctor wears one outside his own examination area. That's simply performative and an attempt to add gravitas and respectibility to an otherwise disrespectful spectacle. Instead, Moore stuck to the script and claimed that "The 17,000 Global COVID Summit physicians and medical scientists 'represent a much larger, enlightened global medical community who refuse to be compromised, and are united and willing to risk the wrath of the corrupt medical alliance to defend the health of their patients.'"
Moore also attached a video of Malone and others '"discuss[ing] the latest Global COVID Summit declaration" at an unnamed place. Turns out it's on a podcast called "The Highwire," hosted by Del Bigtree, who runs the anti-vaxxer "Informed Consent Action Network" and has a six-figure income from spreading anti-vaxxer conspriacies. Not the way one builds credibility if you're trying to reach people outside your fringe bubble.
