‘Your voices have been heard,’ the American College of Clinical Pharmacy told members.
A medical conference has canceled a keynote address scheduled to be delivered by a California professor, after people complained about the professor’s stances against forcing children to wear masks and promoting COVID-19 vaccines without randomized clinical trial data.
Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist and professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, was scheduled to deliver the keynote at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy’s meeting in November.
Dr. Prasad “will discuss the need for rigorous approaches to evidence-based decision-making while challenging some tenets not supported by sufficient data,” the college said. It said he would have a “lively Q&A” after his talk.
Some members questioned why Dr. Prasad was invited. Alicia Lichvar, a pharmacist in California, withdrew from her speaking commitment at the conference,
claiming Dr. Prasad has a “history of spreading misleading and inaccurate information.”
Dr. Prasad in
one essay drew from the harsh measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and said in the future, American leaders could end up imposing even harsher restrictions if influenza becomes particularly bad. Ms. Lichvar noted he brought up Germany under Adolf Hitler as an illustration of how a country comes under totalitarian rule.
“When democratically elected systems transform into totalitarian regimes, the transition is subtle, stepwise, and involves a combination of pre-planned as well as serendipitous events. Indeed, this was the case with Germany in the years 1929-1939, where Hitler was given a chance at governing, the president subsequently died, a key general resigned after a scandal and the pathway to the Fuhrer was inevitable,” Dr. Prasad wrote at the time.
‘Your Voices Have Been Heard’
He pointed to how some other Western nations used military force to enforce COVID-19 restrictions, how the public in many areas accepted the harsh measures imposed by authorities, and how the media often left out crucial details about COVID-19, such as how it primarily impacts older people.Brian Gilbert, another member of the college,
said Dr. Prasad “has built his following with outlandish statements/claims” and took issue with how the doctor
advised people not to take COVID-19 tests if they were not feeling symptoms.
“Your voices have been heard,” the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Board of Regents told members on Oct. 12. In light of feedback from members on Dr. Prasad’s planned talk, the board “acted ... to rescind the invitation to Dr. Vinay Prasad to serve as the Annual Meeting’s Keynote speaker,” the board said.
According to the board, it was not involved in inviting Dr. Prasad.
“The college is steadfast in its commitment to remain a member-driven organization. The board will be revisiting the keynote speaker vetting and selection process to ensure alignment with the expectations and values of ACCP members,” it said.
Reactions to the decision were mixed.
“Glad our voices were heard,” Sarah Cummins, a pharmacist at the University of California Davis Medical Center,
wrote on X.
“Thanks to ACCP for listening to members and rectifying the keynote selection,”
added Megan Rech, a research scientist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Other members disagreed with the choice.
Dr. Prasad “has done great work in advocating for unbiased rigorous evidence, holding regulatory bodies and researchers to a higher standard, combatting conflicts of interest within medicine, and ultimately advocating for better patient care,” Justin Joy, another pharmacist,
said.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine,
said Dr. Prasad is an “accomplished scientist.” He said the ACCP “should apologize & re-invite him as a keynote speaker for its conference.”
ACCP and Dr. Prasad did not return inquiries.
Prasad Responds
Dr. Prasad
wrote in an op-ed that ACCP Executive Director Michael Maddux invited him to speak at the meeting. Mr. Maddux said the Substack Dr. Prasad and colleagues run showed a commitment to the “best available evidence” for medical decision-making.
Dr. Prasad said he initially demurred but, owing to the persistence from Mr. Maddux and others at ACCP, ended up accepting the invitation.
“We agreed my talk would focus on whether medical evidence should have an expiration date. In other words, as conditions change (less smoking; more obesity), should doctors and pharmacists regularly reassess the evidence for our pharmaceutical treatments? I have published both an
academic paper and a Sensible Medicine
post on this topic,” Dr. Prasad said.
Dr. Prasad said he and his team base their positions on available evidence, including their position on how there is no strong data to support masking children or closing schools.
“I invite my critics to disagree with me on any of my positions and to change my mind. Like any good scientist, I have changed my mind over the course of Covid. I was initially skeptical that Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed could develop a vaccine so quickly—I was wrong. I was optimistic that vaccination would halt the spread of the virus—I was wrong,“ Dr. Prasad said. ”But instead of debate or dialogue, the ACCP organizers preferred to cancel my talk on a topic unrelated to Covid.”
He said that no one is entitled to deliver a speech but argued that once an invitation is offered, “it should not be canceled merely because a tiny online minority dislikes the speaker.”
He wrote: “It simply incentivizes online rage, and the more that organizers give in, the more calls for cancellation they will get. It’s a lot harder to have principles and stick to them.”
