The six founding members of the IHU Méditerranée Infection asked the management of the institute, headed by Pr Didier Raoult, on Thursday March 24 to relocate a symposium on Covid-19 scheduled for the end of March within its walls with personalities known for their anti-vaccine positions.
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In a joint press release, the Armed Forces Health Service, Aix-Marseille University, the Research Institute for Development, the French Blood Establishment, the Public Assistance of Marseille Hospitals and Inserm explain "
that 'they have not been consulted and are in no way associated
' with this meeting announced for March 30 and 31.
For the founding members of the IHU, “
the title and the nature of the participants and partner associations leave no doubt about the objectives
” of the colloquium, hence their request for “
its relocation
”.
For two days, the congress organized by the Réinfo Covid collective founded by the Marseille anesthetist Louis Fouché and entitled "
Covid-19: first assessment of scientific knowledge and controversies
" provides for the intervention of around twenty personalities, some of whom are noted for their position against the current of the scientific community on the epidemic.
Among them, Dr Laurent Toubiana, participant in the conspiratorial documentary “
Hold-up
“, or even the sociologist of the CNRS Laurent Mucchielli, who co-signed a study relativizing the impact of the epidemic on mortality in France, distributed by an association of which Dr Toubiana is the founder.
But also the American doctor opposed to the vaccine Robert Malone, or Dr. Pierre Kory, defender of Ivermectin, a drug whose effectiveness against covid-19 has not been demonstrated.
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"
The founding members are committed to freedom of expression and no breach of the requirement of rigor and excellence (...) can not be tolerated
", underlined in their press release the founding members of the IHU, explaining "
that they will not allow the reputation of their respective establishments and teams to be called into question either
".
Professor Didier Raoult, who is to deliver the opening speech of the colloquium, justified in a tweet the holding of this congress at the IHU "
for the sake of freedom of expression, without censoring or endorsing
it ".