But dr. Malone was not the lead author of the paper and, according to Dr. Acsadi did not contribute significantly to the study. Although the paper stated that the technology could “provide alternative approaches to vaccine development,” said Dr. Acsadi that none of the other authors would claim to have invented the vaccine.
“Some of his work was important,” said Dr. Alastair McAlpine, a pediatric infections doctor based in Vancouver, British Columbia, “but that’s a long way from claiming that he invented the technology underlying the vaccines we use today.”
The vaccines “are the result of hundreds of scientists around the world, all of whom have combined to form this vaccine,” said Dr. McAlpine. “It was not one person or the pioneering work of an individual person.”
A spokeswoman for Penn Medicine said: “We were delighted to witness the vaccines’ use in the global fight against the virus and the well-deserved global recognition for Drs. Kariko and Weissman’s decades of visionary basic science research.”
dr. Malone resists criticism from scientists, researchers and journalists, dismissing the dozens of fact-checks that challenge his statements as “attacks.”
He also keeps repeating his claims, with the help of his wife, Dr. Glasspool Malone, who is trained in biotechnology and public policy. She writes, he said, more than half of the articles posted to his Substack newsletter — which is inundated with conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 vaccines. Recent articles include “The Illusion of Evidence-Based Medicine” and “What Does It Feel Like to Be Justified?”
dr. Malone said he did not join any particular political party. But in recent months, he and his wife have made numerous stops at popular conservative conferences, such as Hereticon, the Peter Thiel-backed conference in Miami for Silicon Valley’s self-proclaimed opponents, and the “Defeat the Mandates” march in Washington.
