A viral WhatsApp message claiming French Nobel Laureate Dr. Luc Montagnier said that those who receive the COVID-19 vaccine will die in a period of two years, is misleading and false.
Although the WhatsApp message includes a link to an interview given to lifesitenews.com, the article itself has no mention of Montagnier saying that the recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine will die in two years.
The US-based NGO, RAIR Foundation that aired his interview on May 18, 2021, published an article on May 25 addressing the claim that Montagnier spoke about vaccine induced deaths in two years and clarified that Montagnier never made any such claim.
Montagnier who was in the news in April 2020 for voicing that SARS-CoV-2 is a man-made virus, however, has mentioned that the vaccines will lead to a rise in more variants and a phenomenon called 'antibody mediated enhancement' which will render the vaccines to be ineffective in the long run. Other virologists have called him out for his statements and said that they are unscientific and will create vaccine hesitancy.
His statements were a part of a longer interview conducted in French by Hold Up Media. RAIR was provided with translations for a small section of the original interview.
The viral message along with hyperlinks of Montagnier's Wikipedia page and the lifesitenews.com article reads
"All Vaccinated people will die within 2 years.
Nobel Prize Winner Luc Montagnier has confirmed that there is no chance of survival for people who have received any form of the vaccine. In the shocking interview, the world's top virologist stated blankly: "there is no hope, and no possible treatment for those who have been vaccinated already. We must be prepared to incinerate the bodies." The scientific genius backed claims of other pre-eminent virologists after studying the constituents of the vaccine. "They will all die from antibody dependent enhancement. Nothing more can be said."
"It's an enormous mistake, isn't it? A scientific error as well as a medical error. It is an unacceptable mistake," Montagnier said in an interview translated and published by the RAIR Foundation USA yesterday. "The history books will show that, because it is the vaccination that is creating the variants. Many epidemiologists know it and are "silent" about the problem known as "antibody-dependent enhancement," Montagnier said."
Did Montagnier Mention Deaths In Two Years In His Interview?
In the two-minute clipping shared by RAIR Foundation, the 2008 Nobel Laureate referred to the vaccine program for the coronavirus as an "unacceptable mistake". He further added that mass vaccinations are a "scientific error as well as a medical error. The history books will show that, because it is the vaccination that is creating the variants," Montagnier stated.
Even while his opinion about vaccines giving rise to variants are scientifically debatable, the virologist never mentioned that every recipient will die two years after receiving the vaccine.
The interview revolved around the role of vaccination. The only place where Montagnier mentioned deaths was where he was discussing about the curve and trajectory of increase in cases leading to increase in deaths and creating the death curve. "The new variants are a production and result from the vaccination. You see it in each country, it's the same: the curve of vaccination is followed by the curve of deaths," answered Montagnier.
RAIR tweeted as well as published an article clarifying that the Professor never mentioned vaccine induced deaths in a time period of two years. BOOM went through the English transcription of the video and verified that this time period was not stated by Montagnier.
BOOM has written to Luc Montagnier for his comments about the claim and the story will be updated if we receive a response from him.
Montagnier And His Controversies
Montagnier is a joint recipient with Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
Along with his April 2020 remarks about the SARS-CoV-2 virus originating from a lab, he received a lot of criticism for his research on finding new ways to detect viral infections merely two years after being lauded with the Nobel. His research was based on the tenets of homeopathy which surprised many attendees who heard him at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting held in June 2010 where he unveiled his findings. Members of the modern medicine fraternity felt that Montagnier was giving a platform to homeopathy which so far continues to be considered a traditional medicine technique.
This is not the first time Montagnier has expressed his views against vaccination. In 2012, he was a keynote speaker at an event held by AutismOne. This group is known to propel the theory that vaccination causes autism among children.
Was His Interview Factually Correct?
In the interview, Montagnier repeatedly mentions that the vaccine would lead to the creation of variants as well as lead to a phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement.
Indian virologist and member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, Dr. Gagandeep Kang tweeted about Montagnier's claims.
Fact-checking website FactChecker contacted Dr. T. Jacob John, a virologist from India as well as W Ian Lipkin, John Snow Professor of Epidemiology and professor of Neurology and Pathology at Columbia University, USA to verify Montagnier's claims.
Addressing the claim that vaccines should not be given during a pandemic, Dr John stated that have been effective against pandemic influenza A H1N1, influenza A H3N2, endemic influenza B viruses, smallpox, rinderpest and even polio.
"We use vaccines against measles, rubella, mumps, varicella (chickenpox), hepatitis A, hepatitis B, Rotaviruses, Japanese encephalitis and human papilloma viruses that cause cancer of uterine cervix — none of these diseases have turned around and caused any problem whatsoever. These vaccines are routinely used in many countries in a wide age range. Influenza vaccines have been in use since 1945 and vaccines save hundreds of thousands of lives of young pre-school children, senior citizens and pregnant women every year. Vaccines have never posed the kind of risks claimed in the discredited news item," John stated.
Lipkin chose to address and explain antibody-mediated enhancement. "Antibodies that do not neutralise a virus can make things worse by promoting uptake of the virus into uninfected cells. This mechanism is known as antibody mediated enhancement," Lipkin responded to FactChecker via email.
"Vaccines should not cause antibody mediated enhancement because they are specifically designed to elicit neutralizing antibodies (as well as protective T cell responses). Evolution will favor the survival of viruses that are not neutralized. However, rather than to conclude that this is a reason not to use vaccines, most scientists including me, would conclude that this is the best argument for rapidly vaccinating everyone at risk for infection with the best available vaccines so that SARS-CoV-2 is denied the opportunity to develop resistance. I'm sorry to see that Prof Montaigner and I disagree on these points," he added.