I used to have some time for David Kurten and his Heritage Party. I believed that this party could have been a positive force to promote social conservatism, realistic energy policies and a respect for Britain’s history and culture. That was until Mr Kurten revealed himself to be a antivax nutcase with little or no scientific knowledge whatsoever. Mr Kurten joined up with the David Icke’s of this world and spouted off about stuff that he knew little and on subjects that he had quite obviously refused to learn.

He refused to understand that mRNA as a mechanism for vaccination against contagious disease has been studied since the mid 1970’s first as theory and later, as medical and biological techniques improved, on a practical level. He promoted the idea that the technology behind Covid vaccination using mRNA was wholly novel and developed in just a few months and ignored the fact that scientists have been working on such vaccines and vaccine delivery methods for decades.

Now David Kurten has decided that what the world needs now is his less than fully informed input on the current issue with Monkeypox. David Kurten is alleging that because some of the Covid vaccines were using Adenoviruses, commonly found in monkeys as well as humans, as vectors for the active ingredients in the vaccine in order to get the active parts accepted by human cells, that this is the reason for the current Monkeypox outbreak.

David Kurten is wholly wrong on this. Adenovirus vaccines have been given to people for decades to ensure that those exposed to this virus do not contract it. Adenovirus vaccines were, until the plant making them decided not to make them any more, routinely given to US service personnel and a new production line for Adenovirus vaccines was set up in 2011 which meant that vaccination against Adenovirus could continue.

The Adenovirus and the virus that causes Monkeypox are not closely related and in any event the main viral reservoir for Monkeypox is not Monkeys but rodents such as rats. Monkeypox is only called Monkeypox because it was first noticed in Monkeys. The virus that causes Monkeypox is related to other pox viruses that cause Chickenpox, Cowpox and Smallpox. Monkeypox is not a novel disease and there have been outbreaks, mostly in Africa, since the 1970’s. Monkeypox virus is not related to Adenoviruses that are found mostly in primates including humans in fact some of the reasons why Adenoviruses are used as vaccine active ingredient vectors and in general medical research is that humans are often naturally exposed to Adenoviruses of various sorts and therefore have some acquired resistance to them. There is good toleration for Adenoviruses which is why they are used in this way.

David Kurten should have engage brain before Tweeting. He should at least have enquired as to whether there is any relation to the Monkeypox and similar viruses and Adenoviruses before making his pronouncement about Monkeypox and Covid vaccines. I’m not a scientist or a medical person but even I know that Poxviruses and Adenoviruses are completely different entities, it’s a damned shame that David Kurten could not do that basic research that would have ensured that he was not, quite rightly, mocked.

From what I can gather Mr Kurten is trying to insinuate that Monkeypox is a novel illness that has only just appeared and has appeared because of the Covid vaccinations. He’s wrong again there as well. This is a classic case of correlation not being causation.

David Kurten could have been a contender. He could have stood up for social conservatism, Judeo-Christian values and British culture, stuff that needs standing up for. Instead he parades his ignorance over the issue of viral families and not only damages his own image and that of his party but also damages the other more worthwhile causes that he has in the past espoused.