Rebekah Barnett
Rebekah Barnett is a Brownstone Institute fellow, independent journalist and advocate for Australians injured by the Covid vaccines.
In a surprise move, the local government of West Australian mining town Port Hedland is calling for immediate suspension of the Moderna and Pfizer Covid vaccines pending an investigation into evidence of excessive levels of synthetic DNA in the shots.
At a special meeting on 11 October, Port Hedland councillors voted five to two in favour of notifying all of Australia’s 537 local councils of the evidence of the DNA contamination in the vaccines, and associated risks.
“We are gravely concerned about the potential health risks posed by synthetic DNA contamination, including the dangers of genomic integration, cancer, hereditary defects and immune system disruption,” said the letter, a copy of which was sent to councillors around the country following the vote.
Letters were also sent to every health practitioner within the Port Hedland area strongly urging them to share this information with patients contemplating receiving any Pfizer or Moderna Covid modified-RNA (mod-RNA) vaccines.
The Port Hedland Council joins federal independent MP Russell Broadbent in calling for the suspension of the vaccines until an urgent and thorough investigation has been carried out into the DNA contamination matter.
Port Hedland Councillor Adrian McRae, who brought the motion, said that he hoped the vote “will be the ripple that creates a bigger wave across the country, and perhaps the world” on the issue of Covid vaccine safety.
The move comes after independent testing of Australian vials of Moderna and Pfizer Covid vaccines, by Canadian virologist Dr David Speicher, detected residual synthetic DNA at levels up to 145 above the regulatory limit.
Independent studies in Canada, the US, and Germany had previously tested the mod-RNA vaccines and found excessive levels of DNA, which is a byproduct of the production process and is allowed in amounts of up to 10 nanograms per dose under international regulations.
In the Pfizer vaccine, there is a DNA sequence called the SV40 enhancer/promoter, which is known for its utility in gene therapies to drive DNA into the nucleus of cells. The SV40 enhancer/promoter (not the same as the SV40 virus) was discovered in the Pfizer vaccine in 2023 by genomics scientist Kevin McKernan and has since been acknowledged by regulators, including the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and Health Canada.
Responding to these findings, Florida Surgeon General Dr Joseph A Ladapo petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to halt the Covid mod-RNA vaccine program in December last year.
However, both the FDA and the TGA deny that the vaccines contain high levels of DNA or that the synthetic DNA poses any safety risks, including the SV40 enhancer/promoter.
In a statement released after the Port Hedland council vote, the TGA said that it was aware of “misinformation” in recent reporting of the contamination issue and that findings of high levels of residual DNA in the mod-RNA vaccines are “not robust or reliable, and are creating confusion and concern regarding the safety of vaccines.”
But the TGA did not provide any evidence to support its claims or refute the work of independent scientists who detected the contamination. At the same time, the TGA mischaracterised the scientists’ work and omitted some key, but inconvenient facts from its statement.
The TGA claimed that it has independently tested 27 batches of mod-RNA vaccines for residual DNA levels and found them to be compliant. However, no one can verify this, because the TGA fully redacted the results when a Freedom of Information (FOI 4558) request compelled their release.
The TGA misleadingly criticised the use of a testing method called fluorometry in some studies but ignored the evidence of excessive DNA using qPCR, which is the TGA’s preferred method for testing residual DNA levels. The TGA also ignored a step taken by Dr Speicher (the use of an enzyme called Rnase A) to ensure the accuracy of the fluorometry reading.
The TGA failed to address the implications of residual DNA being encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), which go to every major organ system in the body (according to Pfizer’s biodistribution data) and enter the cells (according to the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator). And the regulator did not address the presence of the SV40 enhancer/promotor at all.
West Australian Premier Roger Cook slammed the Port Hedland council for passing the motion to alert Australians to the DNA contamination issue, telling the press that the council had gone “off the rails” and “should stick to its knitting.”
But Port Hedland residents who attended the special meeting implored the council to take action, as did internationally lauded Professor of Oncology Angus Dalgleish, in a recorded address in support of the motion.
Professor Dalgleish, who previously sat on the scientific board of mRNA technology company CureVac, said he had seen an upsurge in aggressive, fast-progressing cancers in his oncology practice amongst patients who had received Covid vaccine boosters, particularly colorectal and blood cancers.
“We need our health authorities to begin monitoring these trends, develop testing protocols for those exposed to synthetic DNA contamination, and prepare treatment pathways for the inevitable rise in vaccine-induced conditions,” he said.
The motion to warn Australians of the DNA contamination in the mod-RNA shots was supported by Councillors Adrian McRae, Sven Arentz, Lorraine Butson, Camilo Blanco, and Deputy Mayor Ash Christensen. It was opposed by Mayor Peter Carter and Councillor Ambika Rebello.
Blanco, who formerly served as Port Hedland Mayor, said he was inundated with calls from other local government areas after the Port Hedland Council motion was passed.
“I’ve been contacted by so many councils that are ready for this,” he said.
“They can’t just ignore this. We want genuine answers.”
A website has been assembled by a group of volunteers with all the Port Hedland council motion information, and resources to equip Australians to take the matter up with their own local governments.
Visit porthedlandmotion.info to find out more.
Read a full rebuttal of the TGA’s claims about DNA contamination in the mod-RNA vaccines, here.
This article was originally published by the Brownstone Institute.
