At Legal Insurrection: “I’m An MD Suspended By Twitter For Tweeting A Link To A Scientific Article On COVID-19 Vaccine Lowering Sperm Counts”

Link to full Legal Insurrection blog.

My suspension is yet another example of Twitter’s arbitrary, Lysenkoist breaches of informed public discourse on covid-19. The suspension must be reversed, and my account restored fully intact, immediately. Please take notice and intervene Elon Musk (@elonmusk).

I am a physician currently affiliated with the Brown University Center For Primary Care and Prevention, and was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Family Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University from 1997 until June, 2021. My CV lists my many medical and scientific accomplishments.

Among other things, as a clinical trialist and epidemiologist, I designed and completed the largest randomized, controlled trial ever conducted in chronic kidney transplant recipients.  I have 115 scholarly, peer-reviewed publications focused on epidemiology and clinical trials. I have testified as an expert witness in lawsuits pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic—specifically on vaccine and mask mandates—while researching and writing extensively on those subjects. I recently contributed to an amicus curiae brief to the United States Supreme Court for the covid-19 vaccine mandate case NFIB v. Dept. of Labor, OSHA, et al./Ohio v. Dept. of Labor, OSHA, et al. which was cited by the Washington Post .

Until this morning, I had a very active Twitter account with a large following through which I shared scientific information, as well as my personal views.

Full article in “Andrology” available here:   

The Journal Andrology is highly respected and published through a joint effort of American and European scientific associations…

The study was a straightforward, serial analysis of young male Israeli semen donors evaluating the potential impact of Pfizer’s covid-19 mRNA vaccine on their sperm concentration (count), and related functional measures, “15-45 [Time 1],75-120 [T2], and over 150 days after [T3] vaccination.”

What did the investigators find?

Again, quoting their publicationverbatim, based upon what the authors defineda priori, as the primary statistical analysis (i.e., “ [a] 1) generalized estimated equation model (GEE) was used for repeated measures analysis,” which is indeed the most appropriate method!):

 “sperm concentration was significantly lower due to decrease of -15.4% (confidence interval -25.5%–3.9%) compared to [Time zero/baseline] T0 (p=0.01). Moreover, [total motile count; how sperm moved] TMC percentage change reduction of 22.1% was significantly lower compared to T0 (confidence interval -35% – -6.6%, p=0.007) as well. Although concentration and TMC were reduced also on T3, these values did not reach statistical significance.”

If anything the text of my 6/19/22 tweet understated the evidence of a possible longer term, ~ 5-month follow-up decline, calling it a “rebound” when “concentration and TMC were reduced also on T3, [though] these values did not reach statistical significance.” In other words, the trend was toward a persistent decline, although it did not “reach statistical significance,” but may well have been evident, and “statistically significant,” merely by studying more subjects.

Finally, my offending tweet added the truthful observation that no data were presented on the effects of booster vaccinations, and asked whether boostering might cause another cycle of decline in the sperm counts and functional measures only studied in relation to the initial vaccination.

My suspension is yet another example of Twitter’s arbitrary, Lysenkoist breaches of informed public discourse on covid-19. The suspension must be reversed, and my account restored fully intact, immediately.

Please take notice and intervene Elon Musk (@elonmusk).

Comments are closed.