Dr. McCullough had been a respected cardiologist, but when COVID‑19 emerged, McCullough began promoting “early outpatient treatment” protocols built around repurposed drugs such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and later ivermectin, publishing a 2020 paper in The American Journal of Medicine that became a touchstone for groups opposed to mainstream public‑health guidance. Large randomized trials and meta‑analyses show no benefit of HCQ or ivermectin for preventing or treating COVID‑19.
He claimed that healthy people under 50 and those previously infected had no scientific reason to be vaccinated and asserted that large numbers of Americans had died from COVID vaccines, claims that conflict with high‑quality safety data and have been widely characterized as misinformation.
He lost his board certification in both internal medicine and cardiovascular disease in 2023 after reviews by the ABIM started in 2021 and had the hubris to claim that regulatory and professional actions against him were politically motivated rather than grounded in scientific standards.
His employment ended at Baylor Scott & White Health in Texas. However, he continued to try to tie himself to the health system as late as six months after parting ways with them, calling himself “vice chief of internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center” in interviews. As a result, Baylor Scott & White Health sued, “alleging that he illegitimately affiliated himself with its facilities when promoting controversial views about COVID-19” by causing “irreparable reputational and business harm.”
He went from a credentialed, mainstream cardiologist to a prominent figure in the COVID‑skeptic/antivaccine ecosystem, with his scientific reputation in the broader medical community severely damaged while his profile in alternative‑health and anti‑mandate circles grew. His peer‑reviewed output dropped sharply after 2020, while his media appearances skyrocketed. This contrast reinforces the pivot from science to ideology/commerce.
He became part of the “Chief Medical Board” of The Wellness Company (TWC) and peddles such items as “Ultimate Spike Detox,” “Long COVID Bundle,” and “Contagion Emergency Kit”—all marketed directly to an audience primed by his public claims about vaccine harms and persistent spike‑protein injury. He claims that up to hundreds of thousands have died from the vaccines, which contradict all surveillance systems.
The TWC targets people worried about “vaccine injury” and “spike protein,” niches that McCullough himself helped create and amplify through his media presence on outlets such as The Joe Rogan Experience, FOX News, Real America’s Voice, NewsMax, One America News, America Out Loud Talk News, all right-wing outlets which reach conservative audiences the same demographic that experienced higher COVID mortality, that explains higher death rates from COVID among Republicans.
Because TWC is private, detailed financials (ownership percentages, profit distributions, McCullough’s exact compensation) are not publicly disclosed. What is clear is that his role as Chief Scientific Officer and front‑facing expert is tightly coupled to product marketing: his name, image, and “protocols” are used to sell specific supplements and kits.
From a motivation and incentive standpoint, that creates a strong alignment between maintaining and growing an audience that distrusts vaccines and mainstream medicine, and selling ongoing “detox,” “prevention,” and “emergency” products to that same audience. The more alarming his claims about vaccines and spike protein, the more plausible and necessary his branded solutions appear.
Apparently the unethical revenue from TWC wasn’t enough for McCullough. He started the McCullough Foundation to Support his research and educational activities, particularly around COVID‑19, early treatment, and “spike detox” protocols and channel donations from supporters who view him as a truth‑telling dissident persecuted by mainstream institutions.
Normally foundations are structured as nonprofit entities (often 501(c)(3) in the U.S.), but without direct access to IRS filings or an official website with clear tax status, one can’t definitively characterize its legal structure or detailed finances. Functionally, the foundation appears to be a fundraising arm that legitimizes and sustains his ongoing media, speaking, and publication efforts in the COVID‑skeptic space. Narratively, it reinforces his self‑presentation as a persecuted but altruistic physician, inviting supporters to “help the mission” rather than simply “buy my products.”
Donation‑based foundation plus commercial telehealth/supplement company creates multiple income channels all tied to the same core message: mainstream medicine is corrupt or blind, and McCullough’s alternative framework is both scientifically superior and morally urgent.
Publications
Hazan, Sabine, Adriana C. Vidal, Nicolas Hulscher, Amelia Goudzwaard, Peter A. McCullough, and Alon A. Steinberg. “RETRACTED ARTICLE: Cardiac Findings in a Phase II Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of Combination Therapy (HAZDPac) to Treat COVID-19 Patients.” BMC Cardiovascular Disorders 24, no. 1 (2024): 710. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12872-024-04376-y.
Hulscher, Nicolas, Peter A. McCullough, and Diane E. Marotta. “Strategic Deactivation of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines: New Applications for siRNA Therapy and RIBOTACs.” The Journal of Gene Medicine 26, no. 9 (2024): e3733. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgm.3733.
Hulscher, Nicolas, Roger Hodkinson, William Makis, and Peter A. McCullough. “Autopsy Findings in Cases of Fatal COVID-19 Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis.” ESC Heart Failure 12, no. 5 (2025): 3212–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/ehf2.14680.
McCullough, Peter A., and Nicolas Hulscher. “Risk Stratification for Future Cardiac Arrest after COVID-19 Vaccination.” World Journal of Cardiology 17, no. 2 (2025). https://doi.org/10.4330/wjc.v17.i2.103909.
Rose, Jessica, Nicolas Hulscher, and Peter A. McCullough. “Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis.” Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety 15 (October 2024): 20420986241226566. https://doi.org/10.1177/20420986241226566.
Von Ranke NL, Zhang W, Anokhin P, Hulscher N, McKernan K, Mccullough P, Catanzaro J. “Synthetic Messenger RNA Vaccines and Transcriptomic Dysregulation: Evidence from New-Onset Adverse Events and Cancers Post-Vaccination.” World Journal of Experimental Medicine 15, no. 4 (2025). https://doi.org/10.5493/wjem.v15.i4.113869.
