People gathered at Newcastle's Grey's monument this afternoon for an anti-vax rally.
Around 80 people were observed listening to a range of speakers, who branded the coronavirus pandemic a "hoax" or a "fraud". Four police officers were also seen at the peaceful demonstration, which saw people arriving with banners and speeches.
Among the speakers was Dr Kevin Corbett, a retired nurse practitioner and health scientist, who said people had been misled into taking vaccinations ahead of the data.
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He said: "I would like a proper investigation and enquiry because I believe lots of people have been scared and coerced into accepting spurious conclusions.
"Normally it would take 15 years for vaccinations to get to market, but these vaccines were waived through very quickly on the basis that it was a pandemic."
According to the British Medical Journal, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) credits the rapid turnaround to its "rolling review" process, which allowed it to analyse the data as they were submitted.
A spokesperson told the BMJ that scientists and clinicians had "carefully and scientifically reviewed the safety, quality and effectiveness data - how the vaccine protects people from covid-19 and the level of protection it provides."
The agency added, “The data included results from the lab and clinical trials in humans, manufacturing and quality controls, product sampling, and testing of the final product. This process is designed to make sure that any vaccine approved meets the expected high standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness.”
Usually, the UK would've had to wait for the European Medicines Agency to approve a vaccine before looking to distribute it, but in an emergency EU countries are allowed to use their own regulator to issue temporary authorisation.
The demonstration in Newcastle follows protests across the country during the first two months of 2022, after the Government moved to ensure all NHS staff are fully vaccinated against Covid.
Although the UK's mortality rate has dropped massively as more of the population has been vaccinated, some anti-vax nurses maintain the life-saving vaccine is an 'experimental drug'.
Earlier this month, following a public consultation, legislation that revoked vaccination as a condition of deployment (VCOD) policy came into force.
