Just when you thought telling women to stick stone eggs up their vaginas was the worst medical advice she could give, a once-Manhattan-based psychiatrist, anti-vaxxer and Goop-approved pusher is going viral again. But this time, it’s for her dangerous social-media posts that call COVID-19 a hoax.
Kelly Brogan (who has an MD from Cornell University and a master’s from MIT, according to her website) said in a video posted on Facebook last week that there is “potentially no such thing as the coronavirus” and that the reported deaths from the virus are “likely being accelerated by fear itself.” Further, she “personally [doesn’t] believe in germ-based contagion.”
“Could this contagion be a reality for others? Absolutely,” she says in the video. “It’s not for me.”
COVID-19 has killed almost 20,000 people around the world and is spreading “like a bullet train,” in New York, where there are 25,000 confirmed cases, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Brogan’s video has since been deleted by Facebook. “These videos violate our policies and have been removed from both Facebook and Instagram,” a spokesperson told the Daily Beast.
Brogan, for her part, has doubled down on her words, calling her message “personal empowerment,” and suggesting that people subscribe to her newsletter if they’d like to hear more of her views. She also then posted a screenshot of the Daily Beast article and a link to the video that is now available on Vimeo.
Goop has distanced itself from Brogan’s unsubstantiated claims this time, declining comment to the Daily Beast, but saying: “We would suggest reaching out to Dr. Brogan directly as she didn’t make those comments on Goop’s platform.”
David Colquhoun, a British pharmacologist called Brogan’s claims “utter nonsense.”
“She’s a very, very dangerous fantasist,” he told the Daily Beast.
The Post has reached out to Brogan for comment.