Cape Town – ’’Suggest you get a refund from your medical school Tim.’’
This was the retort from Dr Shabir Madhi, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and professor of vaccinology at Wits University, to Tim Noakes, a scientist and an emeritus professor in the Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the University of Cape Town, on Twitter after Noakes had indicated that the vaccines being used in the fight against Covid-19 don’t qualify as such.
Noakes had been commenting on a Twitter post which enquired whether hundreds of thousands of lives had been saved by vaccines. ’’Which vaccines are your referring to? Not COVID-19 since it does not qualify as a vaccine. At least not according to the definition I was taught at medical school,“ Noakes stated.
On Saturday, Noakes had posted: ’’Perhaps it's all finally beginning to unravel. As Dr Judy Mikovits (a US anti-vaccine activist and former virologist) predicted it would nearly 2 years ago. Maybe the conspiracy is real (after all).’’
When you check. This was first discussed back in July and who exactly are “The Citizens Grand Jury”??????? As for the stuff on vaccines, how many lives have been saved by the vaccines? It must be up in the 100s of thousands.
— David L. Davies (@PrestoDave) August 22, 2021
This was in response to a tweet that Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was slated for allegedly benefiting financially from the Covid-19 vaccine and for withholding evidence on the dangers the vaccine holds.
According to Reuters, posts claiming Fauci is “part of Pfizer’’, the company that has developed one of the Covid-19 vaccines, are false.
Which vaccines are your referring to? Not COVID-19 since it does not qualify as a vaccine. At least not according to the definition I was taught at medical school.
— Tim Noakes (@ProfTimNoakes) August 22, 2021
The allegation was tweeted on July 22 by Jonathan Feliciano, guard for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League, and has since been deleted. Feliciano’s press team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The tweet read: “It’s been proven that COVID was made in lab. Fauci also a part of Pfizer [thinking emoji] that’s why ppl don’t want to get the vaccine. Sad to come to the realization that you can not trust the government. #dontshootthemessenger.”
@ShabirMadh. Instead of unprofessional put-down you should have Tweeted: "You're correct. When you were training, immunologists did not anticipate development of mRNA technology. But since its introduction, we've had to change definition of vaccines because (give reasons)....." https://t.co/j7lbfgBGTZ
— Tim Noakes (@ProfTimNoakes) August 23, 2021
Reuters said it found no evidence to support the claim that Fauci is involved with Pfizer. Fauci is not listed on Pfizer’s board of directors or its management team.
When approached by a news website, Madhi said Noakes’s statement was not worth commenting on. Noakes was also not willing to get involved in the debate, saying it is best to study the content of the post closer rather than attacking an individual.
Sorry you took offence to a reckless, Illinformed post on your side. The definition on a vaccine has not changed, but the technology to produce vaccines has. pic.twitter.com/KamtIyRxdm
— Shabir Madhi (@ShabirMadh) August 23, 2021
Nevertheless, both Madhi and Noakes further responded to each other’s tweets on Twitter concerning the definition of what constitutes a vaccine.
In 2017, Banting advocate Tim Noakes was cleared of misconduct after he provided advice on Twitter about breast-feeding and feeding babies.
Perhaps a reason for some "vaccine" "hesitancy"? https://t.co/Dy0KsFlImJ
— Tim Noakes (@ProfTimNoakes) August 19, 2021
Advocate Joan Adams‚ the chairman of an independent panel that considered a misconduct charge brought against Noakes by the Health Professions Council of SA‚ said Noakes’s Twitter account did not describe him as a registered doctor or suggest he acted as such. There was no evidence that the woman who had asked for advice considered him as her doctor or was hoping for a free medical consultation, she said.
IOL