Is Pharma “Stalking” Him? British Doctor Could Lose Medical License for Questioning COVID Vaccines, By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.
Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a prominent British cardiologist and public health campaigner, risks investigation by the U.K.'s General Medical Council and loss of his medical license after publicly questioning the safety of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
A prominent British cardiologist and public health campaigner risks investigation by the U.K.'s General Medical Council (GMC) and loss of his medical license after publicly questioning the safety of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Aseem Malhotra described the situation to The Defender as "a very unusual case, probably unprecedented."
Malhotra said that in 2021, soon after he began questioning the safety of the COVID-19 shots and helped overturn vaccine mandates for U.K. healthcare workers, the GMC received several anonymous complaints from doctors accusing him of spreading "COVID vaccine misinformation."
The threat of a GMC investigation led Malhotra to publish an op-ed in The Telegraph last week.
It also spurred an open letter signed by over 150 medical and scientific professionals, who urged the council to stop its investigation.
Malhotra said the GMC will soon decide whether to refer his case to a formal hearing — a step that could lead to suspension or revocation of his license.
Father's sudden death led Malhotra to reconsider COVID vaccine safety
Malhotra wrote that he initially didn't question the COVID-19 shots. He received the initial two-dose series of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and urged members of certain high-risk groups to get vaccinated.
However, he changed his opinion when his father, Dr. Kailash Chand, honorary vice-president of the British Medical Association, had a heart attack and died in 2021.
"His post-mortem revealed severe coronary artery disease that had progressed far more rapidly than I would have expected, given earlier heart scans and how healthy he was," Malhotra wrote.
His father's death led Malhotra to research the safety profile of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. He discovered several peer-reviewed studies that suggested the shots were tied to adverse events similar to those his father experienced.
The studies included a peer-reviewed analysis of the clinical trials for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, published in the journal Vaccine in 2022. The analysis found the vaccines were linked to a higher risk of serious adverse events compared to a placebo baseline.
According to the analysis, about 1 in 800 people who received the vaccine experienced serious adverse events, including blood clots.
Malhotra wrote that health officials pulled the U.S. swine flu vaccine in 1976, and a rotavirus vaccine in 1999, that were associated with adverse event rates far smaller than 1 in 800.
He said these findings undermine claims that his public criticism of the COVID-19 shots has spurred vaccine hesitancy and undermines public trust in the medical profession.
"The evidence in the public literature actually says the opposite," Malhotra said.
RFK Jr. lauded Malhotra for his research into COVID vaccine risks
Malhotra compiled his findings into a 10,000-word peer-reviewed analysis, published in 2022 in the Journal of Insulin Resistance.
"It underwent extensive peer review and remains the most downloaded paper in the journal's history," Malhotra wrote.
The paper earned Malhotra praise from U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. At the time, Kennedy was chairman of Children's Health Defense.
On the day of the paper's publication, Kennedy called him and said, "Dr. Malhotra, it's Robert Kennedy Jr. I want to thank you for your courage."
"I spoke to the future US health secretary at length about regulatory capture, conflicts of interest in medicine and the importance of informed consent," Malhotra wrote. "He later invited me on to his podcast for a detailed discussion."
In 2024, Malhotra discussed similar topics on "The Joe Rogan Experience."
"The professional consequences were immediate," Malhotra wrote. "For critics, my appearance on the most influential alternative media platform in the world confirmed that I had stepped outside what they considered acceptable boundaries of an establishment medical narrative."
Malhotra told The Defender that following his appearance on Rogan's podcast, "the anonymous doctors decided to take the GMC to court for not investigating me."
Until then, the GMC had opted not to investigate Malhotra despite the complaints it received. In court, the GMC initially "defended its decision," Malhotra said.
But in an unexpected about-face in 2024, "the GMC capitulated, saying they made an error in the process of their decision-making." The council decided to reopen the case to examine whether the complaints warranted further investigation.
Malhotra wrote that his September 2025 speech at the Reform UK conference further fuelled calls to launch an investigation against him, while key U.K. politicians distanced themselves from him. Reform UK, a political party led by Nigel Farage, currently leads U.K. public opinion polls.
"Within minutes, senior Reform figures distanced themselves. Days later in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, misled Parliament by falsely claiming that I'd stated that all vaccines cause cancer," Malhotra wrote.
"After the Reform conference, the situation seemed to have escalated with further calls from a very small minority of doctors for me to be struck off or lose my medical license, despite the fact that we've got an overwhelming majority of doctors, and certainly the public, that have been vocally on my side," Malhotra told The Defender.
As recently as last year, Malhotra received official recognition for his medical work. In July 2025, he was recognized for excellence in public health communication at the Global Health Awards, held at the U.K. House of Commons.
150 doctors, scientists urge GNC to 'drop all action' against Malhotra
More than 150 doctors, scientists and academics signed a letter urging the GMC and its chair, Carrie MacEwen, to "drop all action" against Malhotra, GB News reported.
Signatories include:
Dr. Angus Dalgleish, emeritus professor of oncology at the University of London.
Norman Fenton, Ph.D., emeritus professor of Risk Information Management at Queen Mary University of London.
Dr. Paul Goddard, retired professor of radiology at the University of the West of England.
Dr. Ayiesha Malik, general practitioner and co-founder of Doctors for Patients UK.
The letter suggests the GMC's threat of sanctions against Malhotra is "political" and not rooted in scientific or medical evidence. It states, in part:
"Much of the evidence presented against him appears to have been cherry-picked from long interviews. It ignores his detailed review of the published evidence of harms from these genetic products and focuses instead on his opinions as to why so many in the medical profession are still reluctant to face up to the reality of widespread vaccine injuries. …
"Not one of the allegations reflects any patient complaint nor any actual risk to patient safety."
Dalgleish told The Defender the complaints against Malhotra "are part of the divide to rule and control of dissident doctors, and, in fact, the persecution of whistleblowers."
Dalgleish suggested that "a group of doctors who feel they are not preventing him from spreading disinformation" is the likely source of the anonymous complaints.
"This group has hid behind an anonymous mantra, and I believe they are being used as a stalking horse by Big Pharma to take out people like Aseem," Dalgleish said.
Four groups — Doctors for Patients UK, the Children's COVID Vaccines Advisory Council, the Health Advisory & Recovery Team and the UK Medical Freedom Alliance — organized the letter, GB News reported.
They warned that any disciplinary actions the GMC may levy against Malhotra "would have a chilling effect on potential whistleblowers, which is highly detrimental to patient safety."
Several of the letter's signatories, including Dalgleish, signed a separate letter sent last week to Wes Streeting, the U.K.'s secretary of state for Health and Social Care. The letter expresses concern about "abuse of the GMC referral process to silence whistleblowers" and the inability of the National Health Service to protect them.
Malhotra and other co-signatories helped launch The Hope Accord in 2024, which seeks the immediate suspension of all mRNA COVID-19 shots and the "comprehensive re-evaluation of the safety and efficacy of all COVID-19 vaccine products." It has garnered 68,722 supporters as of this writing.
Malhotra challenged claims downplaying risk of ultraprocessed food
Malhotra wrote that he has long been outspoken in challenging deeply held ideas in the medical field.
"Long before Covid, I became the first cardiologist in the UK to publicly challenge the role of excess sugar and ultra-processed foods in driving obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease," Malhotra wrote. "Through Action on Sugar, which I helped launch in 2014, we pushed for reformulation of processed foods, clearer labelling and a sugary drinks tax."
At the time, his views were considered "fringe," he said. Today, they are "supported by a multitude of data and the clinical experience of many other doctors, in addition to my own."
In 2020, he was invited to advise the U.K. government on improving the nation's health outcomes.
Malhotra's views also form a key tenet of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda and have spurred the establishment of a similar organization in Europe, Make Europe Healthy Again (MEHA).
Malhotra spoke at MEHA's inaugural event last year and, until recently, served as chief medical adviser to the U.S.-based MAHA Action.
