It is false that orphans from Poland are used in Covid vaccine trials

It is false that Polish doctors have denounced the use of orphaned babies in illegal trials of “genetic engineered vaccines” against Covid-19. As verified by Projeto Comprova, the author of the post is Karina Michelin, already verified in previous checks, and, in the verified publication, she uses arguments without proof, denied by the Polish Ministry of Health and by the manufacturer of the immunizing agents.

The first advisor to the Mission of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Brasilia, Renata Siuda-Ambroziak, told the report that all studies on the immunizing agent against the coronavirus had obtained legal authorization required by local health and ethics entities.

In addition, an infectologist and professor at UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) clarified that “genetic engineering” is the old name given to molecular biology, used both in the manufacture of vaccines and medications, such as insulin.

Unlike the induction that Karina Michelin’s text makes about the use of this technique being harmful, the specialist claims that it has been used for over 50 years, without harming drug users.

The article contacted the author of the post to find out what her sources were and verify the origin of the information. There was no return until the publication of this text.

False, for Comprova, is content invented or edited to change its original meaning and deliberately disclosed to spread a lie.

How do we check?

The article contacted the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, mentioned in the publication, to check if the information cited in the verified publication was correct. Only the first returned with explanations about the non-origin of the information.

Next, we searched the internet about who Grzegorz Braun, the politician mentioned in the post, is. Comprova researched Braun’s Twitter profile to find out if he really shared information about alleged illegal experiments with Polish orphaned children, as reported by Karina Michelin on her page and the group Médicos por Vida on the Telegram.

Next, the article resorted to previous checks on publications made by Michelin, to consult the information that had been raised about her. Internet searches were also carried out to obtain data on who would be the journalist and presenter, in addition to contacting her. So far, there has been no return.

Later, he made contact with the politician Grzegorz Braun through his profile on Twitter, on the personal page he maintains on the internet and, also, with the party he claims to preside.

The next step was to seek answers from the Polish government looking to the Polish Embassy in Brasília, in order to confirm the existence of such research and to know if it was being carried out with children orphaned by Covid-19 in the country.

Finally, Daniel Mansur, infectious diseases specialist and professor at UFSC, was consulted, so that a scientific explanation on the subject could contextualize and say whether or not the use of “genetic engineering” for the production of vaccines was proceeding.

Verification

What does the Polish government say?

The Comprova team contacted the Polish Ministry of Health, as well as the Polish Embassy in Brasilia. In both cases, we sent the link to the post by politician Grzegorz Braun about the research carried out in the country with children, and also to the post by Karina Michelin.

In response, Renata Siuda-Ambroziak, First Counselor/Deputy Head of the Mission of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Brasilia confirmed that a BioNTech-sponsored clinical trial with the Comirnaty vaccine is ongoing in the country and that all legal protocols have been complied with.

“The study is scientifically justified, described in the clinical trial protocol, and conducted by researchers — physicians with appropriate professional qualifications, scientific knowledge, and experience working with patients.” In addition, the researcher is responsible for obtaining informed consent from each study participant.

The deputy head of the mission added that, in April of this year, “the study obtained the authorization legally required from the PLWMiPB Registry Office and the assent of the ethics committee, after complying with the requirements established in the regulations governing clinical trials of medicines”.

The research has three phases and the objective is to determine the dose and assess safety, tolerability and immunogenicity. The phase 2/3 study is blinded to a placebo-controlled observer to determine the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the RNA vaccine candidate Sars-CoV-2 against Covid-19 in healthy children younger than 12 years. Siuda-Ambroziak emphasizes that phase 1 of the research has already been carried out in the United States.

As for the procedure adopted for research with children, the head of the Mission explains that the Polish regulations provide for the need for consent from the legal representative of children under 13 years of age.

Regarding the questioning whether Grzegorz Braun made any official complaint, the representative of the Polish embassy in Brasilia informed that, “so far, the Cabinet has not received any information about any irregularities in this regard. (…) Braun issued official questions and notifications. In the opinion of the Institute, the doubts arise from the lack of knowledge of the legal provisions on clinical drug trials”.

Grzegorz Braun

He is a conservative politician from the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament. He ran in municipal elections in Gdansk, right after the assassination of then-mayor Pawel Adamowicz in 2019. According to RFI’s report, Braun’s platform was “the defense of Poland from migratory invasion and the orders of the European Union”.

On the website that bears his name, he says he holds a degree in Polish Studies from the University of Wrocław, where he was also a journalism professor until 2007. In 2015, he ran for president of the Republic of Poland.

the complaint

The report searched Grzegorz Michał Braun’s Twitter profile to find out if he really tweeted about alleged illegal experiments with Polish orphan children, as reported by Karina Michelin and the Doctors for Life group.

We located the post and, using the Google Translate tool, we identified that, the post, it publishes the image of a document and quotes the president of the Registry of Medicines, Medical Devices and Biocidal Products, Grzegorz Cessak, stating that since 27 April, there was a decision by the agency “allowing experimental ‘anti-Covid’ vaccination of healthy infants and infants — the sentence of “parts” suffices for all justification.”

After finding the document posted by the politician, the article turned to Google Translate to find out how to spell “orphan children”, “orphans” or “orphans” in Polish and found the following terms: “osierocone dzieci”, “sierota” and “sieroty “. There are none of those words in Braun’s post or in the document he posted. There is only the claim that the authorities authorized “the experimental anti-Covid vaccination of healthy children and babies”.

The report wanted to know from Braun what was his criticism of the research and whether the document posted mentioned orphaned children from Covid. The contacts were made through messages sent on his Twitter profile and also to Kon Federacja, the party of which he presents himself as president. In addition, our team sent an email to the “contact” section of the page he maintains on the internet. Until the closing of this article, there was no return.

Testes

In view of the Polish government’s confirmation of the existence of Covid-19 vaccine research with children under 12 years of age, the report wanted to know from an infectious disease specialist what the test protocols are like.

Daniel Mansur explains that it is essential to present evidence from safety trials during the application for emergency use of vaccine, able to ensure that the immunizers are safe and effective.

The scientist also described that these same tests are usually tested in different groups of people, starting the test, in general, in people from 18 years old and, as safe and efficient evidence is presented, another age group is tested.

When asked if it was possible that orphaned children are being subjected to the tests, as stated in the publication by Karina Michelin, the infectologist affirms that the action, if it was in fact taking place, would not be ethical.

‘Genetic engineering’ therapy

Faced with questions made in the publication about immunizing agents, the professor at UFSC said that the vaccines are safe and that, so far, the side effects that appear in most people are quick.

Genetic engineering is part of the constitution of several vaccines, as explained by the infectologist. Mansur says that this term has been replaced by “molecular biology”.

“Older people would call this genetic engineering [esse método de produzir imunizantes]. This is not to say that there is a problem. It is a technique established 40, 50 years ago. So yes, most of them are genetically engineered, but there is no related problem.”

Insulin and antibodies used to treat cancer are examples that illustrate the use of molecular biology in everyday life, according to the infectologist.

The author of the verified post

The author of the post, also replicated in the Telegram group ‘Médicos pela Vida’, appears on Linkedin as a producer and presenter of a TV show in Florida, aimed at Brazilians interested in shopping and clubbing in Miami.

Other publications by Karina have already been checked by Comprova. In the case of the video posted by her to say that the press highlights irrelevant researchers. In addition to using the H-index — a metric that measures the number of citations to scientific articles by a given researcher — of scientists who wrongly study the new coronavirus, she was wrong to say that WHO researchers do not have academic citations.

Comprova contacted the author of the post to find out what her sources were and to verify the origin of the information. So far, there has been no return.

Why do we investigate?

In its fourth phase, Comprova checks suspicious content about the pandemic, federal government public policies and elections. The verified post reached 1,500 likes and over 500 shares on Twitter.

False publications, such as the one verified here, put the health of the population at risk by claiming that vaccination against Covid-19 aimed at children is unnecessary. The efficacy of currently available vaccines against the disease has already been proven in studies by national bodies.

This is clear in the reaction of Karina Michelin’s followers when commenting on the post. “They want to destroy at all costs those who cannot defend themselves… literally”, tweeted a woman who introduces herself as a pastor.

Another follower writes: “Eugenia in progress” with the magnifying glass emoji.

Comprova has already verified other rumors like this related to the vaccine, such as a tweet that misleads that Pfizer’s vaccine has contaminating particles and the publication that misleads that official data on Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021 presented by the G1 proves it. the ineffectiveness of vaccines

False, for Comprova, is content invented or edited to change its original meaning and deliberately disclosed to spread a lie.

Comprova performed this verification based on information available on the 29th October 2021.