In the wake of record numbers of National Health Service frontline workers skipping the flu vaccine, Russell Brand says their refusal isn’t a “quirk of statistics” but a clear statement on years of deceit, coercion and mismanagement by governments, Big Pharma and international health bodies.

Record numbers of frontline health-workers in the UK refused the flu vaccine last winter, a decision that media outlets claimed could cripple hospitals with flu outbreaks.

Political commentator Russell Brand highlighted the fallout on a recent episode of his “Stay Free” podcast.

“If we’re supposed to trust the science, why are scientists and people that work in medicine refusing to take vaccines?” Brand asked. “What do they know that we don’t know?”

Fewer than 4 in 10 National Health Service (NHS) workers – just 37 per cent – received the flu vaccine, with rates in some areas falling below 10 per cent, The Daily Mail reported.

The NHS has since issued a “flu jab SOS,” warning that low staff vaccination rates could intensify what officials fear may become a severe 2025 flu season.

Brand said he believes the flu vaccine “revolt” stems from years of deceit and coercion by Big Pharma, government and international bodies such as the World Health Organization, culminating in the “chaos of Covid.”

“At the heart of this mistrust is a collapse in confidence over vaccines themselves,” Brand said, arguing that concerns over efficacy, compensation pay-outs and mandates have all weakened people’s trust.

He cited a Swiss study published in August that found healthcare workers who received a Covid-19 booster were up to 70 per cent more likely to develop flu-like symptoms and miss work than those who skipped the shot, with the increase peaking immediately after vaccination.

An October investigation by The Defender found that one of the largest Medicaid health plans in the US is paying low-income parents hundreds of dollars in gift cards to vaccinate their children.

In July, Ryan Champlin – who coordinates vaccine purchasing contracts for doctors at Cook Children’s Health Care System in Texas – told The Defender that doctors earn extra payments when 80 per cent or more of their patients complete the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Child and Adolescent Immunisation Schedule.

A New York Times article, also in July, reported that about half of paediatricians hold “value-based contracts” with insurers. The contracts reward providers with extra payments for meeting specific metrics considered markers of “quality of care.”

In October 2021, as governments worldwide mandated Covid-19 vaccines, New York physician assistant Deborah Conrad was fired for reporting vaccine-related adverse events to the federally run Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System or VAERS. In 2024, Conrad filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit accusing her former employer, Rochester Regional Health, of defrauding the government by blocking her efforts to file reports.

Brand said Covid-19 vaccine coercion left doctors, nurses and hospital staff around the world reeling. “Tens of thousands of healthcare workers, the same people who were once hailed as heroes, lost their jobs for refusing a shot they didn’t trust,” he said.

In New York alone, an estimated 34,000 healthcare workers either quit, were fired or were placed on furlough following the vaccine mandate.

“Their livelihoods were destroyed in the name of public health, while political leaders and pharmaceutical executives congratulated themselves for their compassion,” Brand said.

Even as efficacy fell and side-effects emerged, vaccine makers continued to secure contracts and rake in profits, according to Brand. Governments shielded the drug-makers from liability, indemnifying them against vaccine injuries.

When mistakes occurred, taxpayers – not the corporations – covered the costs, he said.

Brand said in a 2023 episode of his show that corporations often profit from crises using taxpayer money. The federal government funded the development and purchase of Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines, and if the public pays for them, then they “should share in the benefits,” he argued.

Pfizer reported a record $31.4 billion in profits on sales of $100.3 billion in 2022, while Bill Gates reportedly earned hundreds of millions investing in Pfizer’s partner, BioNTech.

Brand said the fact that up to 90 per cent of NHS frontline workers are skipping the flu vaccine isn’t a “quirk of statistics. It’s a verdict.” He added:

“Their message is the same one millions of ordinary citizens feel but rarely voice. We were lied to, coerced and exploited. And now you ask us to trust you again?

“Science is supposed to question everything. Governments and corporations demanded the opposite. They demanded obedience. And now, as the institutions that broke our trust tried to rebuild it … we must finally ask the only question that matters. Why should we trust them at all?”

• A Tell Media report / By Jill Erzen – associate editor for The Defender