https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/08/robert-malone-vaccine-inventor-vaccine-skeptic/619734/
Wherever he appears, Malone is
billed as the inventor of mRNA vaccines. It’s in his Twitter bio. “I
literally invented mRNA technology when I was 28,” says Malone, who is
now 61. If that’s true—or, more to the point, if Malone believes it to be true—then you might expect him to be championing a very different message in his media appearances. According to one recent study,
the innovation for which he claims to be responsible has already saved
hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States alone; there’s talk
that it may soon lead to a round of Nobel Prizes. It’s the kind of
validation that few scientists in history have ever received. Yet
instead of taking a victory lap,
Malone has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of his own alleged
accomplishment. He’s sowed doubt about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines
on pretty much any podcast or YouTube channel that will have him.
Karikó replied that she hadn’t
told anyone that she is the inventor of mRNA vaccines and that “many
many scientists” contributed to their success. “I have never claimed
more than discovering a way to make RNA less inflammatory,” she wrote to
him. She told me that Malone referred to himself in an email as her
“mentor” and “coach,” though she says they’ve met in person only once,
in 1997, when he invited her to give a talk. It’s Malone, according to
Karikó, who has been overstating his accomplishments. There are
“hundreds of scientists who contributed more to mRNA vaccines than he
did.”
The irony is that, to the
audiences who tune in to those shows, the vaccines are seen as a scourge
rather than a godsend. No matter how nuanced Malone might try to be, or
how many qualifiers he appends to his opinions, he is egging on vaccine
hesitancy at a time when hospitals in the least-vaccinated parts of the
country are struggling to cope with an influx of new COVID-19 patients.
If you want proof of that, scroll through the many comments from his
followers thanking him for confirming their fears. Malone has finally
made his mark, by undermining confidence in the very vaccine he says
wouldn’t be possible without his genius. It’s a victory, of sorts, but
one that he and the rest of us may come to regret.
