On Tuesday, we reported MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Jensen earns another anti-vaxx headline, with Jan 6 attack doc, sharing Minnesota Reformer staffer Ricardo Lopez's story GOP candidate for governor, physician Scott Jensen speaking with anti-vaccine group founded by doctor charged in Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Lopez began:
GOP candidate for governor Scott Jensen is slated to participate in a virtual event with a group that strongly questions COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness and was founded by a doctor arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Simone Gold, a physician who founded America’s Frontline Doctors, tweeted on Monday that Jensen is among speakers for a July 27 livestream hosted by her group.
“Don’t miss the critical information you need to navigate the deception and confusion of the Chinese Coronavirus lockdowns and the derelict public health response,” an event flyer says. “Content will include brilliant and ethical doctors speaking truthfully and delivering the verified science and data.”
Gold in January was charged with illegally entering a restricted building or grounds, as well as violent entry anddisorderly conduct for her role in the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. . . .
On Wednesday, an encyclopedic article about Jensen's anti-vaxx dalliances prompted a tweet:
WOW! It's like he heard the show yesterday when I said he'll have to frantically rebrand himself.
— The Matt McNeil Show (@MattMcNeilShow) July 21, 2021
"Why would anyone hear my constant anti vaccine rhetoric and think for one second I was anti vaccine?"
And Twin Cities news media will allow him to do it! https://t.co/kTZsWPoKzj
Go read Igor Derysh's GOP doctor running for Minnesota governor denies he's an anti-vaxxer — he's just anti-vax-curious at Salon where it was originally published. Derysh leads with:
Minnesota physician who was banned by TikTok and investigated by medical authorities for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 is now running for governor. While Scott Jensen denies he's an anti-vax candidate, he's definitely an anti-vax-adjacent candidate
Jensen, a Republican who served four years in the Minnesota state Senate, launched a gubernatorial bid this spring after drawing headlines throughout the pandemic for stoking false claims about the virus. He was featured in the viral conspiracy-theory video "Plandemic" and cited by PolitiFact cited as a key source for its 2020 "Lie of the Year." That referred to a Fox News appearance when Jensen supported the false allegation that doctors were overcounting COVID cases for financial benefit. Medical experts have in fact argued the exact opposite, that cases have consistently been undercounted.
Jensen's baseless claim was promoted on the conspiracy theory clearinghouse Infowars and later used by former President Donald Trump on the campaign trail to downplay the pandemic death toll. Jensen came under investigation by the Minnesota State Board of Medical Practice last year for spreading the claim, although the complaint challenging his medical license was ultimately dismissed.
Jensen told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he had "no regrets" over his comments and touted his "inflated numbers" claim in announcing his gubernatorial campaign, vowing to "continue to search for truth and expose the facts surrounding COVID-19."
More recently, Jensen has partnered with anti-vaccine activists to stoke fears about coronavirus vaccines. In May, he joined Dr. Simone Gold, an anti-vaccine activist who founded the pro-hydroxychloroquine, anti-mask group America's Frontline Doctors — and who was arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — in a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services seeking to prevent kids under 16 from being vaccinated. The lawsuit cited Jensen's false claim that COVID poses a "0%" risk of death to children. Although in statistical terms the risk to children is low, hundreds of children and teens have died and thousands have been hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Jensen told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press that he has "quietly" been a member of America's Frontline Doctors, which became something of a national laughingstock after videos showing Dr. Stella Immanuel, another member, warning about the dangers of sperm "demons" and "astral sex" with witches went viral last year. (For unclear reasons, Immanuel was speaking at a press conference in front of the Supreme Court building.) Jensen has recently tried to downplay his involvement with Gold's lawsuit, telling the Pioneer Press that he had not read the entire petition and adding that he "did not know Simone was in any hot water over January 6." . . .
Read the rest at Salon. There's one geographic error:
In October, Jensen appeared at a "Vaccine Awareness Event" in Alexandria, Virginia, that featured discredited leading anti-vaccine activist Andrew Wakefield ...
Update 7/21: The error has been corrected. Excellent. [end update]
That would be Alexandria, Minnesota, home of Jensen misinformation collaborator, Republican state representative Mary Franson.
Photo: Scott Jensen, the man who would be governor.
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