Insider says Covid policy critics were suppressed by medical watchdog

Doctors who questioned Covid vaccine or pandemic policies were suppressed or dismissed, a former member of New Zealand’s medical watchdog claims.

Richard Aston, a former lay member of Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) which oversees doctor standards, has given a legal testimony to New Zealand High Court about what he describes was a dismissive culture towards doctors who raised concerns to the council about Covid suppression measures during the pandemic.

Mr Aston – one of the council’s 12 members – also claims doctors who raised issues around informed consent or suggested alternative approaches to the Covid vaccine mandates faced harsh sanctions, limiting the public’s ability to receive fully informed advice from doctors. Mr Aston, who served on the Medical Council of New Zealand from October 2019 until June 2022, produced his testimony at NZ’s high court in Wellington last month as part of legal action against MCNZ’s pandemic policies from a group of doctors – New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science (NZDSOS).

The testimony states:

“The culture change was unreal and disturbing….The chair would introduce these COVID items with ‘Here we go – we’ve got another anti-vaxxer in front of us’. With the exception of my contributions – and occasional support from one or two others – there was no engagement by the other members of the New Zealand Medical Council with the principles of informed consent, the doctors’ code of ethics, or human rights more generally.”

Mr Aston said the complaints:

“ranged from a doctor emailing a colleague with doubts about the vaccine, to doctors advising some patients – for example pregnant women and children – not to take the vaccine to doctors speaking at public meetings against wholesale vaccination of everyone.”

His testimony added:

“The majority of the council went along with this dismissive, ridiculing approach, with maybe three people, including myself, not joining in this prejudgment game…The approach from council staff and most members was to rely on the guidance statement which indicated doctors should promote vaccine benefits not highlight risks. That meant a doctor talking about the risks associated with vaccination was a reason to take disciplinary action.”

And he stated:

“What alarmed me at the time was the majority of MCNZ members were aggressive in their response to all these ‘anti-vax’ doctors, calling for harsh, vindictive, even, sanctions for even the most minor of cases. The usual detailed discussion of evidence and high-level legal arguments was abandoned. It was clear that most other members of MCNZ’s council considered that any doctor who so much as doubted any of the COVID pandemic directives should be heavily sanctioned and preferably suspended. Most of our meetings were by now conducted on Zoom due to lockdowns.”

The new claims, highlighted in the New Zealand based online investigative journalist platform Centrist.

The MCNZ declined to comment.