A Georgia physician, who presented his comments about COVID-19 vaccines and masks in a local school board meeting last August, is now under investigation and could lose his emergency doctor certification.
He joins a growing list of health experts who risk being censored and even losing their licenses if they publicly say what isn’t widely medically accepted.
William Ray Lynch Jr., M.D., is a physician with an active Georgia medical license and is board-certified in Emergency Medicine, and who has witnessed past outbreaks including Hep B&C, HIV, H1N1 influenza A (swine flu), and now COVID-19.
Lynch made several statements about COVID-19, vaccines, and masks at the Cherokee County school board meeting on August 19, 2021. Lynch presented scientific reports regarding the lack of scientific data to support masks mandates, and on how COVID vaccinations need complete FDA approval and should not be mandated by the government or the Board of Education.
On Christmas Eve, Lynch received a letter from the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) regarding a complaint made against him: someone had complained that he had violated a code of professionalism.
“The accusation [was] that the public statements were contrary to prevailing medical evidence, constitute unprofessional conduct, and may be subject to review by my American Board of Emergency Medicine organization,” Lynch recalled from the ABEM letter.
“I felt I was standing up during the public comment section to make statements supporting what the school board had decided when they reopened the school year in August, allowing our children in Cherokee County to go back without masks and also following the quarantine guidelines from the health department,” Lynch told The Epoch Times, “I gave them a summary of 14 different articles and the literature. I even left them copies of the literature, invited a discussion if they had any questions.”
In an email to Lynch in December, an Emergency Medicine board worker listed the doctor’s comments in question, some of which are hotly contested: “Neither personal protective or environmental measures effect the virus transmission; The COVID-19 death rate is similar to severe seasonal influenza; Masks do not stop the spread or lower the COVID-19 cases; Masks have side effects and carbon dioxide levels are higher in younger children; Vaccines do not stop the spread or prevent infections; There is no scientific data to support mask mandates.”
When Lynch made the comments, the school board was hearing from both sides during a public session. Lynch said that he spoke at the meeting to support the school board’s decisions such as making masks and vaccinations optional. Some speakers asked the school board to impose a mask mandate.
Lynch said: “Basically, my final conclusion was very simple. It was to allow parents to discuss concerns with their physician and make decisions regarding their children for masks and vaccines with informed consent. And that was my conclusion of that three-minute talk in front of the board.”
“I felt it was good that they had a chance to hear support for their decision and also know that there was an opportunity to have literature to back up some of their decisions and make them feel a little more comfortable about that,” Lynch added.
In a statement to NTD, ABEM wouldn’t comment on their investigation. The board can only revoke Lynch’s emergency doctor certification, but the doctor says that violation could lead the state to revoke his physician license.
Lynch said: “I’m just hoping that they [ABEM] see the complaint did not have merit. I was stating information that was coming from our literature and medical information at the time and interpreting it correctly.”
And as all this plays out, Lynch continues to run for a seat on the Cherokee County School Board.
