Overview

• Cardiologist Aseem Malhotra used a main‑stage slot at Reform UK’s Birmingham conference to claim mRNA vaccines were a “significant factor” in cancers affecting members of the royal family and had killed or harmed millions globally.
• Health Secretary Wes Streeting condemned the remarks as dangerous extremism and urged Nigel Farage to apologise and cut ties with the speaker.
• Reform UK said Malhotra was a guest expressing his own opinions and that the party does not endorse his statements, though he was introduced as a contributor to its health policy.
• Cancer Research UK and Blood Cancer UK said there is no good evidence linking Covid vaccination to increased cancer risk, while experts called the assertions pseudoscience.
• Malhotra serves as an adviser to Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s MAHA initiative, with coverage noting US policy moves against mRNA programs and UK officials warning that such claims threaten already declining childhood immunisations.