News Round-Up: Pharma-Linked Medical Groups Sue RFK Jr. over Covid Shots, Von Der Leyen’s Love of Private Jets, and US Points To Australia’s Free Speech Problems
Every week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye, or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past week, the following topics attracted our attention:
Big Pharma linked medical groups sue RFK Jr. over Covid shots.
Low emissions are not for her: Von der Leyen flew private 16 times in 2024.
US points to Australia censoring free speech.
Grid can’t handle: UK solar farms paid hundreds of millions not to produce energy.
Swiss municipality closes outdoor pool to foreigners harassing women.
Big Pharma linked medical groups sue RFK Jr. over Covid shots
Several US medical associations have filed a lawsuit against Health Minister Robert F Kennedy Jr's decision to stop recommending the Covid vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women. It is noteworthy that the same medical associations have received significant amounts of money from large pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer, which manufactures these Covid vaccines.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) justified its lawsuit by arguing that the Health Minister's decision violates long-standing norms governing US immunization policy. According to them, the minister's decision was not based on evidence, and the plaintiffs are demanding that the court reinstate the Covid vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women. The American College of Physicians (ACP), the American Public Health Association (APHA), and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) have joined the lawsuit.
It is noteworthy that such allegedly independent medical associations are often funded by pharmaceutical giants such as Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, and others. Pfizer has been named a major supporter of such non-profit organizations. The official purpose of pharmaceutical company funding is usually to support research or educational programs, but the hidden goal is for these organizations to lobby for the companies' products, including Covid-19 vaccines. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) received a total of approximately $400,000 in funding from Pfizer in 2022, half of which was for vaccine promotion, including a conference on Covid vaccines and education on the benefits of immunization for lawmakers. During the Covid crisis, the AAP was one of the key lobbyists for public acceptance of vaccine mandates. The same Pfizer 2022 list also includes the American College of Physicians and the American Society for Infectious Diseases, meaning that in a single calendar year, the company whose interests are now being served by the complaint has supported three of the four current plaintiffs.
On top of that, there is a lot of data and research confirming the correctness of Kennedy's decision. These vaccines are associated with serious side effects, which in the worst cases can result in death. The potential effects of Covid vaccines on pregnant women have been examined in several separate studies. Instead of significant benefits, these studies have found that Covid vaccines may harm both the child and the woman, causing miscarriage and even fetal death (e.g., Heidary et al.; Chen et al.; Thorp et al.; Karaman et al.; Manniche et al.). The effects on children and young people have also been studied and, depending on the research question, it has been found that vaccinated children have a higher risk of autoimmune diseases and myocarditis, a greater need for emergency medical care, and that vaccinated children were more susceptible to Covid infection (e.g., Friedberg et al, Feldstein et al, Berg et al, and OpenSAFELY). It is also important to note that Covid does not pose a risk to healthy children.
Low emissions are not for her: Von der Leyen flew private 16 times in 2024
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is an avid user of private jets as she made 16 private-jet flights last year, Brussels Signal reports.
The data was queried by German MEP Martin Schirdewan, co-chair of The Left group in the European Parliament, who has requested these figures every year.
Von der Leyen has often been criticised for her frequent flying over the years. In 2023, news outlets Bild and Der Spiegel reported that the German politician had taken 57 separate flights on private planes since 2021.
Reacting to her use of a private jet more than once a month in 2024, an EC spokesperson told Euractiv that it was “only” under logistical constraints, time pressures, or for security reasons that von der Leyen used such gas-guzzling aircraft.
Some might question this, given the details. Data provided by the EC showed von der Leyen once flew from Brussels to Strasbourg with only four people on board, despite there being a reliable and efficient high-speed train connection between the cities, one that many MEPs and their assistants often have to take.
The most expensive leg was a €14,110 per person chartered flight that included an official stop in Paris, followed by participation in the G7 Summit in Borgo Egnazia, Italy, and the Ukraine Peace Conference in Lucerne, Switzerland, Euractiv reported. It added that it was unclear how many people travelled with her during this whole trip.
In May of this year, Politico reported that von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola flew from Brussels to Luxembourg and back aboard a charter flight, a journey that would have taken approximately two and a half hours by car.
Under von der Leyen’s leadership, the EC has advanced policies to tax aviation for climate reasons as part of the European Union Green Deal. She does not need to pay for her private flights, as European taxpayers foot those bills. Compared to regular economy-class flights, private jets can emit between 10 to 20 times as much CO₂, a gas von der Leyen is otherwise so keen to fight.
US points to Australia censoring free speech
The US has accused Australia’s online safety chief of censoring freedom of speech, The Telegraph writes. Julie Inman-Grant, Australia’s eSafety commissioner, allegedly “colluded” with a powerful group of advertisers who worked to “silence” free expression on X, a House committee report claims. Inman-Grant is said to have “relied on” the group to inform her “engagement [with X] and regulatory decisions” after the company was bought by Elon Musk in 2022, according to the report. The House judiciary committee claims she went on to launch an “aggressive regulatory campaign” against the social media platform, including ordering the site to block content from X users around the world.
The Australian commissioner is accused of coordinating steps with the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (Garm), a now-defunct arm of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), whose members control roughly 90 per cent of all global annual publicity spending. Founded in 2019, ostensibly to promote “digital safety”, Garm is accused in the report of operating like a “cartel”, pressuring social media companies into removing content that does not align with its “own interests and the biased worldviews of its powerful members”.
In one instance, the report deemed “concerning” that Grant sent an email to Garm’s co-founder Robert Rakowitz, acknowledging the group had “very powerful levers at [its] disposal” and asked him to share information with her that could inform any decision to regulate X in Australia.
In one instance, her office blocked the posts of a Canadian gender-critical activist, Chris Elston, who sued the Australian government over the decision.
The denunciation of Inman-Grant is the latest sign of the US government’s willingness to confront its allies amid a growing international rift over freedom of speech.
It comes as an Australian court rules in favour of Musk and Elston.
Grid can’t handle: UK solar farms are now also paid not to produce energy
The National Energy System Operator (Neso), which manages the UK’s power grids has issued switch-off orders to solar facilities this year, new research reveals, The Telegraph reports. Operators are paid to switch off when these orders are issued, with the extra cost added to consumer and business energy bills. The solar operators claiming compensation are understood to include some of the UK’s biggest energy suppliers, such as EDF Renewables and Octopus Energy.
These payments are common for wind farms, which generate more power than cables can cope with on particularly windy days. Solar farms have always had a much smaller output and were mostly built in the South, where grid connections are good. However, the rapid recent growth of solar farms means they too are now being asked to switch themselves off. Neso has said such action was essential to maintaining the stability of the UK’s power grids. Critics said it was the latest example of consumers facing extra costs to meet Net Zero targets.
So far this year, constraint payments have cost consumers £650 million (€754 million), according to the Wasted Wind website. The cost is added to energy bills.
Overall, “balancing payments” could hit £8 billion (€9.28 billion) a year by 2030 without massive grid upgrades, according to Neso estimates. Such upgrades would also be extremely costly, with consumers liable.
The revelation that solar farm owners are now also claiming constraint payments came from research by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), a charity that specialises in energy data. It found that five solar farms had been paid a total of £102,500 (€118,900) to reduce output by 3.6 gigawatt hours between February and June this year.
Swiss municipality closes outdoor pool to foreigners harassing women
Until the end of August, only people with Swiss nationality, holders of a residence permit, and holders of a valid Swiss work permit will be allowed to swim in the local outdoor pool of Porrentruy, Switzerland, according to Brussels Signals. In particular, youths from France are unwelcome. They often cross the border to reach the nearby municipality, but regularly cause trouble. “First we hired a security service from Securitas, then two more – but that wasn’t enough,” local mayor Lionel Maitre told Swiss news outlet Watson. “It’s about harassment against young women, inappropriate language, bathing in underwear, and also violent behaviour after admonitions”, the mayor added.
Benjamin Fischer, an MP from the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), described the decision as “absolutely right.” Speaking to Watson about those causing problems at the swimming pool, he said: “They are young men from the Maghreb countries, Syria, and Afghanistan. They arrive in groups and systematically harass other people, especially young women.”
“The problem exists not only in the Jura, but also in many other places in Switzerland. The outdoor pools have become free hunting grounds for young men who have a different cultural background and are not used to young women spending normal time in bikinis at the swimming pool.”
Formally, the ban on access to the Porrentruy swimming pool now applies to all foreigners, not just French nationals, except for specific exemptions. However, foreign tourists visiting Porrentruy (also known as Pruntrut in German) who are staying in a hotel or campsite can obtain a tourist card issued by their accommodation, which allows them continued access to the swimming pool.