We call it magnetization: Anti-vaccine conference in Argentinas Congress sparks outrage

A man stood shirtless before the audience. “I want to show one of the effects caused by these vaccines,” the woman next to him said into a microphone. The man put a metal disk on his forehead. It started to fall, and he put it back. Then, he placed metal objects against his chest. They remained in place for a few seconds before he removed them. “This is not skin grease, ladies and gentlemen,” said the woman. “And I would like to know what the doctors at the Health Ministry have to say about this. We call it magnetization.” The woman, Lorena Diblasi, holds a degree in biotechnology. She was participating in a one-day conference that criticized vaccinations. It was held on Thursday at a facility in Argentina’s Congress. The scientific community blasted the event, and the decision to hold it at a prestigious official government venue. The event, called “What’s really in Covid-19 vaccines?” was organized by PRO deputy Marilú Quiroz. During the conference, a panel of seven people said that vaccines against COVID-19 contain “nanotechnological and microtechnological elements” and cause autism, “magnetism,” cancer, and sterilization. These claims have not been proven, but have become common among the growing global anti-vaccine movement. Child vaccination in Argentina is dropping to levels so low that pediatricians say herd immunity — the protection of those who cannot be vaccinated by the immunity of those around them — is no longer guaranteed. Last year, less than half of children aged five and six received the vaccines that are required to start school. These include shots against infectious diseases like measles, mumps, and polio.  Ahead of the event, the Argentine Society of Infectious Disases sent a letter to the head of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem, to express their opposition to it. The letter described the conference as “biased, unfair, and likely to generate and reproduce false concepts.” It added that the conference would encourage scientific denialism, undermining confidence in vaccines. Menem, of ruling party La Libertad Avanza, allowed it to take place anyway. “We are at a critical moment in which the decline in vaccination coverage in the country, the region, and the world is serious,” said María Victoria López, a pediatrician and vaccine safety specialist with the Argentine Society of Pediatrics. López told the Herald that diseases such as measles and whooping cough, which had been eliminated, are returning to Argentina and the region. “We are now experiencing an outbreak of whooping cough,” she said. “We already have six deaths, and it is preventable by vaccination.” The pediatrician added that the anti-vaccination movement has grown since United States Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr claimed that vaccines cause autism. López said that the claim has been disproved and that there is no scientific evidence that vaccines make people magnetic, either. “Things get stuck on him because he is sweaty,” she said. The PRO party, to which the conference organizer belongs, distanced itself from the event. “Getting vaccinated is not a matter of opinion: it is an individual and collective responsibility,” they said in a statement afterwards. Argentina’s health minister, Mario Lugones, posted on X that the mandatory vaccines listed in the National Vaccination Schedule “are supported by scientific evidence and decades of safe use.” However, he made no mention of the COVID-19 vaccines, which were disputed by the conference.