Deputy the Anti-Vaccinator: What Anti-Scientific Theories Does Yuriy Kamelchuk Spread

A journalist by education, an entrepreneur, a business coach, a coach and a consultant, and now an MP from the “Servant of the People” and… an anti-vaccinator and supporter of conspiracy theories. Meet Yuriy Kamelchuk.

Yuriy Kamelchuk has been mentioned often lately. He is known for his statements about the “fictional disease COVID-19” and even got several times in our fact checks. And On December 17, Kamelchuk gave an interview to Danylo Mokryk on the Mokryk Po Zhyvomu program. We counted 11 fakes and pseudo-scientific theories in this video. That is, on average, Kamelchuk was telling fakes at least every 4 minutes throughout the interview. But they were concentrated in only one part of it — about the WHO, the coronavirus, vaccines and… ”women’s energy”.

But that doesn’t stop Kamelchuk from bragging about his critical thinking skills: “The thing is that I question it through critical thinking, if I don’t hear the right arguments in response, I still doubt it.”

Well, at VoxCheck, we know exactly what true critical thinking is.  

Fakes about the Covid-19

We have previously caught Kamelchuk lying about the fact that Covid-19 is a common flu, and that tests do not detect the virus, and about the allegedly hidden morbidity statistics. Next, we debunk Kamelchuk’s fakes about the coronavirus from the last interview.

No, coronavirus is NOT a matter of faith and name.

On March 11, due to the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, the WHO declared a pandemic. Then there were more than 118 thousand confirmed cases and more than 4 thousand deaths. On December 17, 74.8 million people were registered as infected and more than 1.6 million died worldwide.

The existence of SARS-CoV-2 virus has been proven by scientific studies, and photos of the virus genome under the microscope are publicly available. The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has also published microscopic images of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. 

Kamelchuk may or may not believe in anything. But the Ministry of Health is guided by WHO standards and practices not because of belief in them, but because they have a scientific basis.

For example, regarding the tests, the accuracy of which Kamelchuk had also previously denied.

PCR test determines the presence of DNA or RNA of a particular virus, i.e. its genetic material. This is what distinguishes SARS-CoV-2 from other viruses. We talked in detail about how the polymerase chain reaction method works in this video. 

In addition, no test has 100% accuracy outside the laboratory conditions. At present, PCR tests are the most accurate in determining SARS-CoV-2, although there is a possibility of false-positive and false-negative results. Studies show that false-negative results can occur in 2% to 33% of cases. The number of false-positive tests is unknown, with estimates ranging from 0.4% to 8%.

We have refuted similar false claims about PCR testing here and here. 

Open sources contain data on the causes of death of Ukrainians since at least 2005. This year, data has started to be published more promptly with a separate daily coverage on Covid-19 mortality and morbidity data. The way most of the countries do. Thus, on December 17, the day of this interview with Yuriy Kamelchuk, 15,996 deaths from Covid-19 were registered — in just 9 months of the pandemic. For comparison, for the whole 2019, 12,500 people died from all respiratory diseases (which are a much broader category). The year before that, in 2018 — 12,000 people had died. So, the Covid-19 problem is important.

But it is worth remembering that mortality from other diseases for which there are already vaccines or specific treatments in no way offsets mortality from a specific new disease for which there is no specific treatment or vaccine freely available.

The coronavirus did exist before. But it concerned different strains of the virus.

Coronaviruses are a whole group of viruses. They are united by their appearance (they look like a crown) and a similar chemical composition. Almost half a hundred coronaviruses have been found in the world, and 7 of them are human ones. SARS-Cov-2 is a new virus.

By the way, we have previously disproved the fakes stating that everyone seemed to already know about the same virus in 2003 and it had even been known how to treat it back in 1976. Let us emphasize once again that these are different strains of coronaviruses.

And we have repeatedly debunked similar fakes.

Scientists believe that when wearing a mask, there is no significant change in the body’s oxygen saturation.

Because of wearing the mask, we do not inhale the carbon dioxide that we have just exhaled. The molecules of carbon dioxide are too small, and therefore they do not linger on the mask and pass through it, so there can be no talk of hypoxia (lack of oxygen).

The WHO also emphasizes that the proper use of masks does not reduce the amount of oxygen and, accordingly, does not increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the body.

It is noteworthy that despite the public objection to COVID-19, in the Verkhovna Rada Kamelchuk votes for laws that help fight the disease or can prevent its spread. He himself explained this in an interview as the “factional subordination.” But there is more about the deputy’s vote below.

Fakes about vaccination

Yuriy Kamelchuk is an anti-vaccinator. Although he calls himself, like most opponents of vaccinations do, a supporter of the “free choice”.

And recently, on his Facebook page, he shared a fake about the allegedly banned film by Robert de Niro “Vaccinated”. When we pointed out a mistake to Kamelchuk in the comments to the post, he deleted our comment. And this does not seem to be the first time he has done so.

Also, Kamelchuk compares vaccinations to alcohol and smoking. Saying, they give short-term relief, but the consequences are terrible. Next we are telling which anti-scientific theories about vaccination Kamelchuk voiced this time.

Moderate side effects after vaccination are normal. Vaccines can cause fever or pain and redness at the injection site. Mild reactions go away on their own within a few days. Serious, long-lasting side effects are extremely rare.

Ineffective and dangerous vaccines are simply not allowed to be produced.

However, any vaccine must be tested before widespread use. This should be monitored by regulatory authorities, such as the European Medicines Agency if it is an EU country, or the Food and Drug Administration if it is the United States, and so on. The WHO also provides recommendations for the use of drugs at the international level.

Vaccination against the coronavirus has begun only a week before this interview. For example, Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine can cause significant allergic reactions, but these side effects are very rare. At the moment, no vaccine company has reported massive complex side effects that would lead to “diseases to be treated.”

Usually, the side effects of vaccines are determined during their testing, i.e. BEFORE the start of production and vaccination of the population. If the vaccine shows massive complex side effects, it is being finalized until it is safe.

On the contrary, vaccines work to prevent the disease, not to overcome its consequences.

Vaccination is usually a weaker or inactive version of the pathogen. Vaccines at the cellular level work by a similar principle with virus infection. The organism notices the threat and B-lymphocytes produce antibodies against it, which provide immunity. As a result, this mechanism is remembered, so in case of a new infection, the body will remember how to protect itself.

This is an old and one of the most popular anti-vaccinators’ fake. No link between vaccines and autism has been found. The components of vaccines or their effects on the body do not lead to autism.

We have refuted more fakes about the supposedly terrible diseases caused by vaccines here, here and here.

Pseudoscientific theories

We give just one brief comment for this block: no, Vedism is not a science. By the way, one of the organizations of the Vedas in Ukraine — “The Vedic World” — often spreads conspiracy theories and fakes about the coronavirus. And its representatives became co-organizers of the StopFakePandemic movement, which regularly protests under the Ministry of Health and the Verkhovna Rada against vaccinations, quarantine and even against 5G.

The bonus. Beliefs vs. voting of the deputy

Now let’s carefully follow the deputy’s logic. He insists on using critical thinking and science (even Vedic one!). He also said in an interview that as a former journalist he is used to checking information:

However, Kamelchuk voted for the appointment of Serhiy Shkarlet, a former member of the Party of Regions and a plagiarist, as Minister of Education. And this is not an assumption, the relevant decision was published in September by the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. For some reason, Kamelchuk did not check this information on his own. But he says he doesn’t believe in anything with the word “national.” And he considers Shkarlet a good specialist, because “I saw his inner state.” The question of where at such moments the allegedly “critical” thinking of Kamelchuk goes — we leave to your discretion.

During this interview and in his other speeches, Kamelchuk regularly questioned data from the State Statistics Service and hinted at the country’s external governance. And also, he did not know about the existence of NSDC dashboards with detailed information on the incidence, so he was saying that Ukrainians are given little data on the incidence of COVID-19.

There will be no conclusions. We are just interested in the data on the basis of which MP Kamelchuk makes his decisions, on which, by the way, all Ukrainians depend.