Editor’s note: In order to avoid further spreading misinformation, we will not feature specific false claims in the body of this article. Please see the sidebar infographic for facts about the COVID-19 vaccine.
As I got myself settled in my seat after navigating through a crowd of hundreds of people, a booming voice exclaimed, “This is an exciting time for liberty!”
Liberty from what and for whom? I scan the overwhelming white and overwhelming unmasked crowd and wonder if they know the answer. During the time I spent at this event, diligently and quickly taking notes, I found it for myself.
The event in question is entitled “Science Uncensored: What You Need To Know about COVID But Haven’t Been Told.” It was hosted by the Penn State group Lions for Liberty, a group who seeks to help students and employees “oppos[e] the ideas that oppose their liberty” per their website. The group formed “in response to Penn State University’s policies and regulations surrounding issues of the pandemic” according to the press release sent to the Etownian editor account. Their mission is most prominently applied to opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, while also clarifying that the group is not opposed to vaccines outright and respects the individual’s choice to receive the vaccine.
The event took place Friday, March 4 at 1 p.m. at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pa. as well as the day before at 6 p.m. at the HUB-Alumni Hall on Penn State’s campus. I attended the Friday event.
The event was also sponsored by Penn State’s chapter of the conservative organization Turning Point USA and conservative body Association American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). The AAPS has published numerous scientifically discredited claims in the past including links between abortion and breast cancer, links between autism and vaccines and that homosexuality reduced life expectancy in men.
Dr. Marsha Blakesee introduced the event and the panelists, stating that the event is expected to go for about four hours. Each speaker will have time to present, followed by a short break and concluding with a Q&A session moderated by her.
For full disclosure, I did not stay at this event for the full four hours; I stayed for one. I was still able to hear two of the panelists before embarking on my hour and 40-minute drive home.
“Each speaker brings a unique perspective,” Blakesee said right before she introduced Attorney Thomas Renz.
Renz heads the law firm Renz Law, LLC whose website states that numerous whistleblowers are exposing major COVID-19 vaccine data coverups. The website’s bold choice of a black background with bright yellow and white text compounds the severity of the claims yet still gives an air of unprofessionalism.
When he was not mocking Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Anthony Fauci, Renz was presenting the false claim that the Department of Defense (DoD) is covering up data that proves that the COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe.
“The foundation of COVID is built on lies,” Renz declared, as the crowd around me hummed in agreement.
He ended his presentation with a call to action, that everyone must “fight on.” The ignited crowd gave him a standing ovation.
I sat in my seat in disbelief, perhaps the only attendee not joining in the applause. I felt even more self-conscious being one of the few people, if not the only person, in the room wearing a face mask. I finished my notes and prepared for the second speaker.
The second panelist was entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Kirsch. After hearing stories about his friends dying or suffering adverse health effects after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, he started the COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund (CETF) to fund research for alternative COVID-19 treatments among drugs that already have FDA approval for other diseases. He quit his job to focus on funding it. He has been banned from Twitter, LinkedIn and Medium for spreading misinformation, though he claims that he only tells the truth.
The main focus of his presentation was the claim that he found data that proves that the COVID-19 vaccine is the most dangerous vaccine ever.
“You think this thing is safe? No fucking way,” Kirsch declared to the dismayed crowd.
Naturally, I was eager to know how exactly he came to this extreme conclusion. Did he explain how he determined that the COVID-19 vaccine was a cause of death? No. Did he elaborate on any of the 13 methods used to verify this conclusion? No. Did he discuss how his studies were replicated and peer-reviewed? No.
When you’re presenting to a crowd of people who will believe anything you say, you don’t have to justify yourself.
Kirsch emphasized throughout his presentation that news outlets and medical experts refused to debate with him about his findings, even when he offered them up to $1 million to talk to him on the record. He confidently claimed that this is because no one can actually refute his data, but I have another theory.
In a debate, both sides have differing opinions that are equal and legitimate. Debating Kirsch and his data gives him a legitimacy that his opponents do not believe he possesses. And people tend to hold fast to their principles even when offered money to forsake them.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 553 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in the U.S. from Dec. 14, 2020 through Feb. 24, 2022. In this timeframe, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) received 12,775 preliminary reports of death among those who received a dose.
0.0023 percent of people who received a COVID-19 vaccination have died afterwards. Adverse health effects and death after getting vaccinated are rare. Because this data doesn’t support Kirsch’s viewpoint, it is disregarded, unmentioned or outright said to be false.
It is 2 p.m., and I have had enough of the blatant lies and propaganda. Kirsch drones on about the dangers of the vaccine as I’m packing my laptop and grabbing my purse to leave. A woman behind me gasps at his latest claim, saying she can’t believe this. I can’t either.
As I walk through the glamorous Hershey Lodge, I reflect on what I just heard. The words “an exciting time for liberty” echo through my mind. The people in that room are being liberated from reality and transported to a new reality filled with conspiracy theories and misinformation. A reality that could cost them their lives.
I did not get to hear the presentations from cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough or chiropractor Dr. Bryan Ardis. I suspect it was more of the same fearmongering and misinformation from the first two presentations. But you can make that judgment for yourself.
“People who ask for a debate are the ones who are telling the truth,” Kirsch asserted early on in his presentation. But I would argue something else: people who are telling the truth aren’t willing to debate the truth with those who lie.
