Pete Evans shares anti-vaxxer views unchallenged on live radio

Controversial chef Pete Evans expressed his dangerous and unscientific anti-vaxxer views unchallenged on Monday, after being given a platform on Sydney breakfast radio.

Pete, 47, encouraged listeners of The Kyle and Jackie O Show to question the safety of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic – even though vaccines are completely safe and have helped eliminate deadly diseases, saving millions of lives.

The former My Kitchen Rules judge, who was released from his contract with Channel Seven after falsely claiming a ‘healing lamp’ could help cure coronavirus, began his rant by questioning new legislation ordering visitors, staff and contractors to receive the flu jab before visiting aged care facilities.  

Sham science: Controversial chef Pete Evans expressed his dangerous and unscientific anti-vaxxer views unchallenged on Monday, after being given a platform on Sydney breakfast radio

Pete said he couldn’t agree with the flu jab legislation, citing supposed scientific research claiming ‘there is the potential that it increases your risk of coming down with greater symptoms of COVID-19’.

Pete went on to insist that he was not an anti-vaxxer but instead ‘pro choice for medical freedom’.

Many anti-vaccination campaigners are beginning to use the term ‘pro choice’ – which is most commonly associated with abortion rights – instead of ‘anti-vaxxer’ in order to make their views seem more socially acceptable.

Dangerous: Pete encouraged listeners of The Kyle and Jackie O Show to question the safety of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic - even though vaccines are safe and have helped eliminate deadly diseases. Pictured: radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson

Dangerous: Pete encouraged listeners of The Kyle and Jackie O Show to question the safety of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic – even though vaccines are safe and have helped eliminate deadly diseases. Pictured: radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson

Semantics: Pete insisted that he was not an anti-vaxxer but instead 'pro choice for medical freedom'. Many anti-vaccination campaigners are beginning to use the term 'pro choice' - which is most commonly associated with abortion rights - instead of 'anti-vaxxer' in order to make their views seem more socially acceptable

Semantics: Pete insisted that he was not an anti-vaxxer but instead ‘pro choice for medical freedom’. Many anti-vaccination campaigners are beginning to use the term ‘pro choice’ – which is most commonly associated with abortion rights – instead of ‘anti-vaxxer’ in order to make their views seem more socially acceptable

Vaccinations are vital to reducing the spread of preventable diseases, and any suggestion otherwise flies in the face of science and the advice of medical experts around the globe.

Some of Australia’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred in aged care facilities, including Newmarch House in western Sydney, where 89 residents were infected and 18 died.

Elderly people are considered more vulnerable to the deadly respiratory infection, and the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee recommended visitors and staff be vaccinated against the flu to help protect residents.  

WHY VACCINES ARE IMPORTANT

Immunisation is a simple, safe and effective way of protecting people against harmful diseases before they come into contact with them.

Immunisation not only protects individuals, but also others in the community, by reducing the spread of preventable diseases.

Research and testing is an essential part of developing safe and effective vaccines.

In Australia, vaccines must pass strict safety testing before the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) will register them for use. Approval of vaccines can take up to 10 years.

Before vaccines become available to the public, large clinical trials test them on thousands of people.

High-quality studies over many years have compared the health of large numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Medical information from nearly 1.5 million children around the world have confirmed that vaccination does not cause autism.

People first became concerned about autism and immunisation after the medical journal The Lancet published a paper in 1998. This paper claimed there was a link between the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. Since then, scientists have completely discredited this paper. The Lancet withdrew it in 2010 and printed an apology. The UK’s General Medical Council struck the author off the medical register for misconduct and dishonesty.

Source: Australian Department of Health 

'Something happened when they got a shot one day': Pete also peddled a disproved theory about a so-called link between vaccination and 'behavioural changes' in children

‘Something happened when they got a shot one day’: Pete also peddled a disproved theory about a so-called link between vaccination and ‘behavioural changes’ in children

Pete also questioned whether general practitioners were the best people to go to for advice about vaccines.

‘I don’t know how much training GPs have done in virology, or immunisation, or whatever that is. And that’s a question that I would love to see here,’ he said.

The former Channel Seven host then peddled a disproved theory about a so-called link between vaccination and ‘behavioural changes’ in children.

Oddball: Following his radio interview, Pete raised eyebrows by sharing this post to Instagram about group sex

Oddball: Following his radio interview, Pete raised eyebrows by sharing this post to Instagram about group sex 

Pete, who has no medical training and is seeking to profit from alternative health treatments, said: ‘I’ve met so many mothers and their children and they tell me, “Hey Pete, my boy or girl was a healthy, functioning beautiful child – and they’re still a beautiful child – but something happened when they got a shot one day.”‘

‘And within two hours, 12 hours, 24, 48 hours, that little boy or girl completely changed their behaviour. And certainly changed their nature,’ he added.   

There is no evidence that vaccines can cause such changes in children.

The supposed link between the MMR vaccine and autism, which was first proposed by discredited ex-physician Andrew Wakefield in 1998, was exposed as a fraud years later.

Bizarre: Pete (pictured with his wife, Nicola Robinson) has been sharing conspiracy theories on Instagram in recent weeks, following his departure from Channel Seven

Bizarre: Pete (pictured with his wife, Nicola Robinson) has been sharing conspiracy theories on Instagram in recent weeks, following his departure from Channel Seven

Following his radio interview, during which hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson declined to challenge his dangerous views, Pete raised eyebrows by sharing a post to Instagram about group sex.

‘During the middle ages they celebrated the end of a plague with wine and orgies. Does anyone know if they have anything like that planned when this one ends? (Asking for a friend),’ the post read.  

It comes a week after Pete urged his social media followers to sign a petition demanding the government backtrack on legislation preventing people who have not had their flu jab from visiting nursing homes.

The petition promoted claims that the flu vaccine has not been vetted ‘for the potential to cause cancer, genetic mutations, and fertility impairment’, and that people were being ‘coerced to take part in a medical experiment’ by getting the jab. 

Pete, a Paleolithic diet enthusiast, has been widely criticised by former fans and experts alike for spruiking dangerous conspiracy theories relating to COVID-19.  

He was recently fined $25,200 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for promoting a lamp he claimed could help treat the ‘Wuhan virus’.  

History of Pete Evans’ controversies

October 2014: Pete claims the Paleo diet can prevent autism

March 2015: His book is pulled from shelves due to its bone broth recipe for infants

July 2016: Pete claims vegan women should eat meat during pregnancy, advises against wearing ‘normal’ sunscreen, and claims Wi-Fi is ‘dangerous’ 

August 2016: He says osteoporosis suffers shouldn’t eat dairy

September 2016: Pete claims camel milk could supplement breastfeeding 

April 2017: Pete campaigns against the ‘mass fluoridation of public water’

December 2018: Pete reveals he looks directly into the sun

April 2020: Pete’s ketogenic recipe book is slammed by health professionals and he is fined for promoting his ‘healing lamp’ 

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