Laval University “dissociates itself entirely” from the words of one of its biology professors who spread some false information about COVID-19 vaccines, in a video broadcast over the past few days on social networks.
“These words do not in any way reflect the positions of Laval University and its Faculty of Science and Engineering regarding the health crisis,” the spokesperson for the educational institution, Andrée, said on Monday. -Anne Stewart, adding that the University “dissociates itself entirely from the comments made by Professor Nicolas Derome in social media”.
She thus refers to a video broadcast by a group opposed to the health measures in place last Thursday, featuring the professor in the Department of Biology at Laval University, Nicolas Derome. “Until now, children have not been included in convincing clinical trials,” launches the teacher at one point in the video in question, which mainly addresses the vaccination campaign among 5-11 year olds which has just been launched. ‘be launched in Quebec and Canada. Pfizer did, however, conduct a trial on some 3,100 children, none of whom reportedly had serious side effects.
Incidentally, the teacher also maintains that “these vaccines are not effective in reducing transmission and contamination in adolescents and adults”, calling the vaccines “experimental” on several occasions.
Mr. Derome also affirms that “according to the National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ), in Quebec, there has been no serious case linked to COVID-19 in children under 17 years old”. However, the figures of this organization, which are available online, clearly show that 259 children from 0 to 9 years old have been hospitalized in connection with the virus, including 44 in intensive care, while among 10-19 year olds, we have it. has 171, including 26 in intensive care. There are also two deaths among 10-19 year olds.
“Scientific integrity”
It was a resident doctor and doctor of pharmacology, Mathieu Nadeau-Vallée, who first highlighted the false information disseminated by the professor, via his social networks. Under the pseudonym Walmart Trudeau, the young man fights daily against disinformation linked to the health crisis. “The disinformation made by health professionals and researchers is the most dangerous, because people no longer know who to trust,” he denounces in his video on the subject, published last Friday.
Without specifying whether sanctions will be applied in this affair, the management of Université Laval nevertheless indicates that “like all members of the faculty, Professor Derome is bound by all the rigor and scientific integrity that this function requires. ”
Laval University and its Faculty of Science and Engineering recall in passing “that they support and apply all health measures aimed at fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and have full confidence in the measures put in place by Public Health “.
Online, the original video was broadcast by the Réinfo COVID Quebec collective – a division of a French collective -, which describes itself as “a collective of caregivers, doctors and citizens united around an idea: the need for a fair and proportionate health policy in Quebec and elsewhere in the world ”. A little over 16,000 members are part of the group, which was the subject of a report by Radio-Canada’s Décrypteurs team in mid-November.