It’s not Grundvig’s only foray into Covid-related conspiracy theories. In September 2020, for instance, he and Tenpenny tried to argue that food poisoning due to brucellosis is (or will be) passed off as COVID-19. With regard to biology, bacteriology, virology, or basic facts about infectious disease that claim makes absolutely no sense, of course; instead of trying to make sense, Grundvig and Tenpenny offered conspiracy videos by Joe Imbriano that they found between Imbriano’s rants about 5G and how Disney promotes homosexuality and how Apple is Satanic because numerology. They also asserted that Bill Gates and the WHO are behind (and managing) the pandemic for some unspecific but nefarious purpose (with regard to the CDC and the WHO, in particular, Grundvig and Tenpenny noted these organizations’ warnings about future COVID strains: “Why sound the klaxon on a new scourge of COVID when there is zero evidence and zero data to show one is coming? Do the architects of the plandemic know something that the rest of society doesn’t know?” but didn’t consider the rather obvious answer that why, yes: the experts do know more than the rest of us: they have data and understand how to interpret them). Their post also included a “greatest hits of Covid conspiracies” list, including the “only 6% nonsense”.
Indeed, trying to downplay the risk of the viruses we vaccinate against (using conspiracy theories) to try to argue that the vaccination is pointless is a go-to strategy for Grundvig. Addressing a 2019 measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that killed at least 5,000 people, Grundvig did a multi-prong deflection attempt to explain how a “generally mild viral infection” (false!) could rack up such numbers:
- That since outbreaks of this severity doesn’t occur “in first world countries”, “hygiene, nutrition, refrigeration, and potable water” must be the cause, something Grundvig calls “a long-known and well-kept secret by the WHO, UNICEF, and medical institutions around the world”. Well, that Grundvig interprets the fact that malnutrition is a major risk factor for death from measles is a “well-kept secret” should tell you a bit about his knowledge of the subjects he discusses. In fact, Grundvig does cite a USAID article mentioning these risks, but notes that “those environmentalist researchers didn’t say vaccines were at the heart of disease reduction”, except, of course, they explicitly did (Grundvig naturally doesn’t expect his audience to read the material he cites).
- That shedding from measles vaccines are “muddying” the numbers from the outbreak (it most certainly doesn’t).
- That the purported measles cases arereally acetaminophen side-effects (“could the bulk of the 5,000 measles deaths be a case of mistaken identity?”), since acetaminophen side effects sound a bit like they could be mistaken for measles symptoms; Grundvig even includes pictures of both, which even to untrained eyes (like Grundvig’s) don’t look remotely similar. “This author firmly believes so,” says Grundvig. So there.
He also cites research suggesting that the measles virus produces immune amnesia to try to raise worries about the measles vaccine, conveniently forgetting that it takes a full measles infection to damage the immune system in that way – in other words, the research gives you yet another bloody good reason to get the vaccine – or how garbage antivaxx ‘studies’ are “censored” when they are rejected or retracted due to methodological shortcomings.
Otherwise, Grundvig has given numerous talks and written numerous rants about how anti-vaxxers are “censored” by the fact that public health groups don’t take them seriously, listen to them or give them platforms.
Diagnosis: Grundvig is first and foremostly an Alex Jones-style conspiracy theorist, and as Sherry Tenpenny’s frequent sidekick he is not a nobody in antivaccine circles. Delirious moron, of course, but at present, people like him seem, in fact, to be informing public health policy in the US.
Hat-tip: Respectful Insolence
The ultimate Halloween horror story.
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