‘Misleading, incorrect, inflammatory’: B.C. doctor’s COVID-19 claims prompt disciplinary hearing

A B.C. doctor is facing allegations of misconduct due to online claims about COVID-19, vaccines, and health measures that are “misleading, incorrect or inflammatory.”

The BC College of Physicians has issued a citation to Dr. Charles Hoffe, who will face a disciplinary hearing at a later date. Hoffe is a family doctor who practices “in or around Lytton and Kamloops,” according to the college.

In one video posted online, Hoffe says he lost his job because he would not get immunized. He repeatedly describes the vaccine as an “experimental injection” with lethal side effects. Several times, he compares vaccine mandates to slavery.

“The COVID vaccine rollout has been an unprecedented failure. Never before in human history, has any medical treatment killed and injured so many people in such a short space of time.”

The College says Hoffe’s statements “contravened standards imposed under the Health Professions Act, including but not limited to the Canadian Medical Association’s Code of Ethics and Professionalism.”

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The safety and efficacy of vaccines have been widely documented, and serious side effects are extremely rare. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada, there have been 79,153,563 vaccine doses administered as of Feb. 11, 2022. There have been 7,999 “serious adverse events” documented — which works out to a rate of 0.010 per cent.

“These reports do not imply a causal relationship between the vaccine and the adverse event. Some unrelated medical events do occur by chance after immunization, especially when millions of people are being vaccinated,” the agency says.

Further, those who have been vaccinated are less likely to get seriously ill or die due to the virus itself.

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The citation describes more of what Hoffe is alleged to have said about both the virus and the public health response. First, he is alleged to have said Ivermectin — a drug used to treat parasites in animals — is an “advisable treatment” for the virus, encouraging people to seek it out from animal feed stores. Second, Hoffe is said to have claimed the vaccine causes “serious neurological harm, female infertility, and a high number of deaths.” Lastly, the college says he has said that those who are vaccinated “can cause harm to unvaccinated persons.”

Health Canada has issued warnings to people about the dangers of taking veterinary Ivermectin, warning it can be dangerous to take any drug not intended for human consumption. The agency has also said there are no trials underway to test this drug as a potential treatment, and urged anyone who had purchased it to throw it away immediately. The US Food and Drug Administration has done the same.

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Concerns about fertility have also been refuted by numerous studies, and public health officials have warned against believing online misinformation linking the vaccine to stillbirths or other negative outcomes for people who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant. Doctors and researchers have also said those who are vaccinated are less likely to transmit the virus than those who have not been vaccinated.

RELATED: Misinformation linking vaccine to stillbirths condemned by Vancouver Coastal Health

Earlier this month, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry condemned doctors who spread misinformation.

“I think this is a very egregious breach of our responsibilities as health care professionals,” she said.

“Does it disturb me? Absolutely it does. It is reprehensible, to be honest, to spread what is clearly untruthful — particularly when people have legitimate questions and concerns about these vaccines.”

With files from Claire Fenton and Tarnjit Parmar