A top University of Saskatchewan doctor has been fired after urging caution for teens getting COVID-19 vaccinations..Dr. Francis Christian, clinical professor of General Surgery at the University of Saskatchewan and a practising surgeon in Saskatoon, has been suspended from all teaching responsibilities effective immediately and fired from his position with the U of S as of September..On June 17, Christian released a statement to more than 200 doctors which contained his concerns regarding giving COVID-19 shots to children. He stated he had not come across “a single vaccinated child or parent who has been adequately informed.”.Christian was told of his termination without cause in a meeting with Dr. Preston Smith, the dean of medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, College of Medicine; Dr. Susan Shaw, the chief medical officer of the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA); and Dr. Brian Ulmer, head of the Department of Surgery at the Saskatchewan College of Medicine..Christian has been a surgeon for more than 20 years and began working in Saskatoon in 2007. He was appointed director of the Surgical Humanities Program and director of Quality and Patient Safety in 2018 and co-founded the Surgical Humanities Program. Christian is also the editor of the Journal of The Surgical Humanities..The SHA and College of Medicine wrote Dr. Christian on June 21 alleging he was “engaging in activities designed to discourage and prevent children and adolescents from receiving COVID-19 vaccination contrary to the recommendations and pandemic-response efforts of Saskatchewan and Canadian public health authorities.”.Christian is not alone in his concerns regarding underage COVID-19 vaccinations – the US Centre for Disease Control had an “emergency” meeting due to new data that the Pfizer vaccine multiplies the risk of myocarditis (heart inflammation) ten times over for 12-17 year olds. The German government advises against vaccinating those under the age of 18..The World Health Organization posted an update to its website on June 21, which advised “Children should not be vaccinated for the moment” for COVID-19. Within 24 hours, this guidance was withdrawn and replaced with new guidance stating, “COVID vaccines are safe for those over 18 years of age.”.Christian said a large, growing “network of ethical, moral physicians and scientists” are urging caution regarding recommending vaccines for all children without informed consent. He said physicians must “always put their patients and humanity first.”.Dr. Byram Bridle, a prominent immunologist at the University of Guelph, recently participated in a press conference on Parliament Hill on CPAC organized by MP Derek Sloan, to express his safety concerns with vaccinating children with experimental MRNA vaccines and the censorship of scientists and physicians..The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is defending Christian regarding a complaint and investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan prompted by the doctor’s advocacy for informed consent of COVID-19 vaccines for children..“We are seeing a clear pattern of highly competent and skilled medical doctors in very esteemed positions being taken down and censored or even fired, for practicing proper science and medicine,” said JCCF Litigation Director Jay Cameron..The JCCF represented Dr. Chris Milburn in Nova Scotia, who faced professional disciplinary proceedings last year after he wrote an opinion column for a local paper. The JCCF provided submissions to the College on Milburn’s behalf, defending his freedom of expression. Last week, Milburn was removed from his position as the head of emergency for Eastern Nova Scotia..“Censoring and punishing scientists and doctors for freely voicing their concerns is arrogant, oppressive and profoundly unscientific,” Cameron said..“Both the western world and the idea of scientific inquiry itself is built to a large extent on the principles of freedom of thought and speech. Medicine and patient safety can only regress when dogma and an elitist orthodoxy, such as that imposed by the Saskatchewan College of Medicine, punishes doctors for voicing concerns.”.Harding is a Western Standard correspondent based in Saskatchewan
