Covid-19 Vaccine Injury in the Media

Mainstream Media Censorship

Those of us who experienced our adverse reactions in the early months of the rollout found it impossible to access information about vaccine injuries in the mainstream media, leading to an increased sense of fear and isolation and more likelihood of being disbelieved. Adverse reactions to vaccines were not discussed in mainstream media for the main part of the rollout. When they were eventually covered, stories were very much cushioned by a focus on the rarity of the reaction, the safety of the vaccine, and the millions of lives it had saved. And the people being interviewed by mainstream media had to agree to censor themselves or had their words censored in editing.

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Social Media Censorship

When our members attempted to post about their adverse reactions, their posts were assigned warnings or removed altogether, with some people getting banned completely from using platforms such as Facebook. Online support groups set up by the vaccine-injured were frequently shut down, leading the injured to develop code words and styles of communicating that would not flag up their individual or group pages. Words like “carrot,” “Maxine,” and “ice-cream,” are used instead of the word “vaccine” itself so that the injured can safely share information about their symptoms and experiences in the hope of finding the solutions that the healthcare system is failing to provide.

A BBC reporter exposed the coded communication resulting in one of the Facebook support groups being shut down. There is always the worry that what are lifelines for many will be lost. We would never consider it reasonable to shut down a cancer support group. Alternative Media Stories about vaccine injuries could be found in numerous alternative media, many of which increased in popularity during the rollout. However, information shared on some of these platforms was — and still is — terrifying for the injured, especially those in the early stages of their illness.

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UKCVFamily’s Media Campaign

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One of our first tasks was to reach out to the media. We wrote to over a hundred reporters from outlets including the BBC, ITV, Daily Mail, The Telegraph, and The Observer. We had two replies, in which we were told that writing about us wasn’t in the public interest. And two mainstream media journalists told us that they were not allowed to feature anything about vaccine reactions. We were contacted by a number of independent media representatives, most of which we turned down because we were concerned about how we would be represented — we do not want our experiences to be used for any agendas other than getting help for our community. We featured in two documentaries: former British MEP James Wells’ “UKCVFamily: A Letter to my MP,” released in May 2022 and former ITV and BSKYB News Executive Mark Sharman’s “Safe and Effective: A Second Opinion,” released in September of the same year.

In the last year,  UKCVFamily have been featured in articles by The Express, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail and on MSN. 

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UKCVFamily’s Media Policy

UKCVFamily is committed to not participating in any vaccination debates — either for or against. Many of our members are able to speak about their experiences without joining any vaccination debates and do not wish to distract from what is now a very urgent need for help for our members.