Dr. Roger Hodkinson is a retired pathologist based in Alberta, Canada, who became internationally known during the COVID‑19 pandemic for making high‑profile anti‑vaccine and anti‑public‑health claims.
On Nov 13, 2020 at an Edmonton city council meeting, he stated “This is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public. There is absolutely nothing that can be done to contain this virus other than protecting older, more vulnerable people. It should be thought of as nothing more than a bad flu season, this is not Ebola, it’s not SARS, it’s politics playing as medicine, and that’s a very dangerous game. There is no action of any kind needed other than what happened last year when we got ‘I felt unwell.” We stayed home, we took chicken noodle soup, we didn’t visit granny, and we decided when we would return to work…Masks are utterly useless, there is no evidence base for their effectiveness whatsoever. Paper masks and fabric masks are simply virtue signalling…it’s utterly ridiculous seeing these people walking around like lemmings, obeying without any knowledge base to put the mask on their face. Social distancing is also useless because, because [sic] COVID is spread by aerosols which travel 30 meters or so before landing.” He also goes on to support the Great Barrington Declaration. “A word on testing. I do want to emphasize that I’m in the business of testing for COVID. I do want to emphasize that positive results do not, underlined in neon, mean a clinical infection..and all testing should stop unless you’re presenting to hospital with some respiratory problem…All that should be done is to protect the vulnerable and to give them all, in the nursing homes that are under your control, give them all 3 to 5 thousind IUs of vitamin D every day, which, which [sic] has been shown to radically reduce the likelihood of infection. And I would remind you all, that using the province’s own statistics, the risk of death under 65 in this province is 1:300,000….It’s just another bad flu and you’ve got to get your minds around that.”
There’s a lot to unpack, so here’s a quick statement by statement rebuttal.
- There is absolutely nothing that can be done to contain this virus other than protecting older, more vulnerable people. Vaccines, respiratory protection, and social distancing all work to contain the virus.
- It’s not SARS. Close, it’s SARS-CoV-2.
- We took chicken noodle soup. There is no evidence to support chicken noodle soup as a treatment for COVID.
- COVID is spread by aerosols which travel 30 meters or so before landing. Close, but aerosols don’t “land.” They can stay suspended for hours.
- Positive results do not, underlined in neon, mean a clinical infection. False positives are incredibly rare. A postive test is almost a 100% chance of being infected.
- Give them all 3 to 5 thousind IUs of vitamin D every day. There is no evidence for vitamin D to prevent a COVID infection.
- The risk of death under 65 in this province is 1:300,000. One can easily spot a minimizer who is spreading false information by suggesting death is the only adverse outcome. It’s but a small fraction of adverse outcomes.
- It’s just another bad flu. It’s far worse than a “bad flu.”
On Nov 23, the Alberta Medical Association tweeted “the Alberta Section of Laboratory Physicians does not share any of the views of the individual in question [and] endorses the use of masks, hand washing and physical distancing along with all other public health measures to prevent the spread of #COVID19.”
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) investigated Hodkinson for unprofessional conduct related to 17 public statements made in 2020–2021. He retained his medical license, but the tribunal found his statements were outside the scope of a general pathologist and violated the CPSA Code of Ethics. The CPSA initially alleged his statements were innacurate or misleading, but a freedom of speech attorney group negotiated that out. “The CPSA issued its written sanction on March 27. It comprised a caution, a required course on advocacy and influence, and $5,000 to help cover his investigation’s cost.“
He ontinues to speak publicly against vaccines and public health measures, promotes “vaccine injury consultation” services, and hosts or appears on talk‑radio and online platforms aligned with “medical freedom” narratives.
Of course he’s part of The Wellness Company grift too.
Publications (click title for rebuttal)
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.
