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Former White House medical advisor reveals she declined the covid shot due to safety concerns
Created on: 2025-05-30
On May 5th, at a MAHA Institute round table discussion, Dr Sara Brenner, a leading FDA official, spoke about her time at that agency before and during the pandemic, and crucially she revealed that during covid, she did not take the shot, due especially to concerns about its safety relating to pregnancy / lactation. Note that this was at a time when the FDA was recommending the shot for pregnant women.
Dr Brenner is currently the Principle Deputy Commissioner for the FDA, was the Acting Commissioner earlier in the year, and for four years previously she was Chief Medical Officer for diagnostics, and detailed to support White House operations during the covid response for the Biden administration, and the Trump administration before that.
Before that she was in the White House for two more years. She is a preventive medicine and public health physician by training, and has also been a tenured professor in nanotechnology prior to her work in government.
In sum, she is highly, highly qualified, and was advising people in the top levels of the US government during covid. So her comments carry weight. It's worth hearing the full segment in which she spoke, which is from 2:50 to 3:20 in the video below, however, the video is primed to start just before her comments on her refusing the shot, at 3:01:
Interviewer: As somebody who's in a position to know, did you choose to take any of the vaccines? Are you free to disclose that?
Dr Brenner: I did not.
I: And what was the reason that you chose not to get vacinated?
B: It was unknown at the time, what the biodistribution patterns of those products were, and in my case in particular, what the expression would be in breast milk. That was my primary concern, and that exposure I was very concerned about.
I: And have events since then confirmed you in your choice?
B: I believe so.
[Audience applause]
B: Speaking personally and not on behalf of the agency, but yes. Somebody will take that part out! [Laughter]
This is hugely significant. During covid, most people were convinced by the media push for the vaccine, which called on us to "Trust the experts."
However, "appeal to authority" is a known logical fallacy. It's a fallacy for many reasons. Experts can be wrong. Majorities of experts can be wrong. But even moreso - what is presented to the public as a consensus of opinions often belies the reality of disagreements among experts that are kept out of the public eye.
Through the pandemic, the FDA advised pregnant women to get the shots - yet one of their most senior advisors finally reveals that she personally refused the shot during her pregnancy due to her concerns about its safety.
It's good that this is coming out, but why did Brenner wait so long? Wouldn't it have been better for her to have said something public during the vaccine push?
The fact is, many highly qualified physicians and other experts did speak out during covid. They lost their licenses, their careers, their incomes, and if they garnered any public attention, were attacked in the press and on social media, which is still happening.
Of course, physicians know this is the fate of those who go against the grain, so many who are in the system and know something is wrong weigh their options, and perhaps wait for the right opportunity to speak, as seems to be the case here. This has is another reason why "appeal to authority" is a logical fallacy.
Despite what Dr Brenner has so far admitted publicly, it's clear that there is a lot more left unsaid. As she said in the interview:
I know this is being livestreamed, so all the good stuff will happen in the hallways, and in the follow up discussions. They don't let you get far out of the castle at the FDA with your talking points.
- Dr Sara Brenner
. . .
Site Update, Prize Draw, Film Viewing
Changing the subject completely:
Memberships at Unjibbed are steadily increasing. Most are in the UK, where the membership is in three figures.
Though the membership is clustered more in certain areas than others, as you'd expect. Of the 106 regions (counties, etc.) making up the UK, there is currently a presence in over a third of them (37%).
However, many of these regions are geographically small, so if you're willing to travel from your region to a neighbouring region, then three quarters (73%) of the UK has a presence. And if you're willing to travel from your region to the next-but-one, the coverage of the UK is very high: 92.5%
What to do? Currently the system is set up to allow you to search up to four areas, which could be "regions" (counties, states, etc.) or whole countries. In a small country like the UK, if you're prepared to travel, and want to see the most options possible, the best thing to do is to select the whole of the UK as your search area.
To find people, you will need a complete profile, if you haven't already completed one.
You'll also need that to enter the prize draw, for which there's just a day and a half remaining (entries must be received by midnight on Saturday).
And for folks in reach of Tyne and Wear, the film showing I mentioned previously is still planned, but I'm working on the technical details. To be in the loop, see instructions here.
For the rest of the world - I haven't forgotten you, I'm still working on finding a good payment gateway for members outside of the UK. If you're not yet a member, you are very welcome to join while this is in progress, and there'll hopefully be an update soon.