French ‘Article Pfizer’ Bill Aimed at Punishing Vaccine Critics Becomes Law

A woman receives a dose of Comirnaty vaccine at a pharmacy in Ajaccio, France, on Oct. 5, 2023. Pascal Pochard-Casabianca/AFP via Getty Images

The passage of a controversial French bill now makes it a criminal offense to speak out against the COVID-19 shot, sending shockwaves among health professionals and free speech advocates throughout the country.

Article 4 of the new law, nicknamed “Article Pfizer” by critics, criminalizes “provocation to abstain from care,” according to a French news TKP report. The law, which passed the French Parliament by a vote of 182–137, also criminalizes the “request to discontinue or refrain from therapeutic or prophylactic medical treatment” as well as “the request to use practices that are presented as therapeutic or prophylactic,”

Health advocates claim the language specifically applies to anyone who advises against COVID-19 vaccines or other “medical treatments” and who are “obviously suitable according to the state of medical knowledge.” Those who suggested alternative therapies or medication would also be subject to penalty under the new law, which can mean up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 15,000 euros (about $16,100).

French politician Jean-François Coulomme, who was elected to the French National Assembly in 2022, applauded passage of the bill as a way to protect the people against being tricked into making choices that could be detrimental to their personal health, according to the French news agency LCP.

“The sincerity of this fight against sectarian excesses must not consist in sanctioning by law complementary care practices or the consumption of phytotherapeutic products,” said Mr. Coulomme.

Arthur Delaporte, a member of the French Socialists, also praised passage of the law and said it would be used for “punishing incitement to abandon care,” telling reporters that “with this article, we are defending science.”

However, a French journalist who writes under the pseudonym Annie Arnaud due to fear of prosecution under the law, told The Epoch Times that the bill isn’t about public health or science, but is instead aimed at crushing voices of dissent.

“Article 4 is villainous, it allows doctors and citizens who have refused gene therapy to be silenced,” said Mrs. Arnaud, who writes for Freedom Train International. “We will no longer have the right to criticize a medical product if it is promoted by the government. This is a law to protect government charlatans who have lied about COVID vaccines and pushed for vaccination.”

“This is high-level piracy, because now the government believes itself protected against any attack,” she added.

Lawmakers in France initially deleted sections of the law after the opposition party expressed outrage over the loss of free speech, but was then reinstated it before making its way through the French National Assembly on Wednesday,

Mrs. Arnaud added that even before passage of the bill, doctors and health professionals who spoke out against the COVID-19 vaccine or proposed alternative therapies had been under increased pressure from authorities.

“It is a highly liberticidal article which will not tolerate any criticism of the therapeutic treatments which will be recommended or made obligatory by the state,” said Mrs. Arnaud. “Any person who dares to openly criticize these therapies will be liable to fines and imprisonment. Already, renowned doctors are being targeted, whom this article will silence.

The past two years have seen the COVID-19 vaccines become mired in controversy. The original COVID-19 vaccines were taken by more than 80 percent of Americans after officials pledged that the shots would effectively prevent contraction and stop the spread of the disease. However, once it was revealed that the shots didn’t work as promised, interest in the subsequent booster decreased dramatically.

Vaccines can also be attributed to widespread reports of adverse health outcomes believed to have been caused by the shots. COVID-19 vaccines have been named the primary suspect in over 1.5 million adverse event reports, according to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database. The numbers could be even higher. An FDA-funded study out of Harvard found that VAERS cases represent fewer than 1 percent of vaccine adverse events.

Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a practitioner in Texas and founder of the Coalition of Health Freedom, told The Epoch Times that if American citizens aren’t careful, what has happened in France could happen in the United States.

“I believe there are powerful people in Washington who would be happy to implement a similar law,” said Dr. Bowden. “We need to keep the dialogue going to prevent this from happening.  The pandemic emboldened infringements on free speech and bodily autonomy.