President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for FBI Director Kash Patel this year promoted a supplement line that claims without evidence to help people “detox” from Covid vaccines.
Patel posted the supplements in posts on Truth Social — the social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group — in February and April.
“Mrna detox, reverse the vaxx and get healthy,” he wrote in one post, tagging the company Warrior Essentials and linking to its website. “Spike the Vax, order this home run pack to rid your body of the vax damage,” he wrote in another article. It is not clear whether the messages were paid promotions; they were not labeled as such.
Warrior Essentials sells what it calls a “Spike Protein Detox Protocol,” a set of up to three supplements that it claims, without evidence, will “reverse the damage done by the spike protein,” a component of the coronavirus. Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines prompt the body to produce and fight a modified version of the protein to train the immune system.
Warrior Essentials is one of many companies trading on unfounded theories about the dangers of vaccines that have proliferated across the alt-right social media landscape since the pandemic — ideas that are not supported by science.
Patel, who served as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller during the Trump administration, is one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters. He has leveraged his partnership with Trump to sell books and merchandise. Patel was paid $120,000 a year as an independent contractor at Trump Media & Technology Group, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in June, as part of a contract that expired in March.
As FBI director, Patel would oversee more than 37,000 employees at the nation’s top law enforcement agency and a requested annual budget of about $11.3 billion.
A representative for Patel did not respond to a request for comment; neither does Trump’s transition team.
Warrior Essentials told NBC News it was “proud to have Kash Patel as a supporter and advocate.”
“While the so-called ‘experts’ who ignored vaccine injuries and implemented failed policies try to defend their stories, we deliver real, science-backed solutions that have already helped thousands of people regain their health,” the company said.
Warrior Essentials says the “detox protocol” “promotes the body’s internal cell regeneration process” and can remove toxins from cells, restore circulatory health and restore DNA stability. None of those claims are supported by scientific research, two medical experts said.
“They can’t say with certainty that their product will do what they intend to do,” says Dr. C. Michael White, chief of the pharmacy practice department at the University of Connecticut.
In the vast majority of people, the spike proteins leave the body within a few weeks after a vaccine is administered. Like other vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Covid shots are safe and serious side effects are rare.
Additionally, the experts said there is no evidence that Warrior Essentials supplements are effective in reducing the side effects of vaccines — which are usually mild or moderate and tend to go away quickly. No supplements have been found that do that.
Dietary supplements do not require FDA approval before being sold, so their manufacturers have more leeway than food or drug makers when it comes to health claims. While the FDA can issue warnings and mandate recalls, it does not have the resources to track or review every supplement available to customers.
“I tell my patients that any claim on a supplement bottle is a yellow flag,” says Dr. Pieter Cohen, associate professor at Harvard Medical School.
He added that while some people have legitimate questions about the side effects of vaccines, a lack of regulation in the supplement industry allows some makers to take advantage of consumers by selling unproven products.
“America’s polarization and distrust of science and medicine are creating a lot of interest and attention in supplements,” Cohen said.
Dave and Nancy Flynn, the couple who founded Warrior Essentials, have said their son was injured by childhood vaccines in 2006, even though hundreds of major studies show that routine childhood immunizations are safe and protect children from serious diseases.
The Flynns have spread misinformation about Covid vaccines, including false claims that they alter people’s DNA and release toxins that linger in the body.
Warrior Essentials’ chief medical advisor, Dr. George Fareed, is a senior fellow at the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, a group promoting unproven treatments for Covid such as the antiparasitic drug ivermectin. Neither Fareed nor the alliance responded to requests for comment.
A single bottle of the 60-capsule “detox” supplement (30 servings of two pills) retails for $75 on the Warrior Essentials website. The set of three supplements marketed together as the Complete Regimen sells for $150. The site suggests taking the pills for three to 12 months.
According to an ingredients list on the Warrior Essentials site, the supplements contain a blend of enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and plant extracts, including chromium, magnesium, zinc and vitamin D. Although some of those ingredients may have health benefits on their own, White says it’s impossible to say whether they are useful in this context – let alone safe. A mix of ingredients can have different effects than a single vitamin or mineral, he said.
Patel joins a group of vaccine opponents that Trump plans to nominate for top positions in government. Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., founded a prominent anti-vaccine activist group and falsely said in a 2013 speech that a vague group of people, including vaccine scientists, were involved in a conspiracy to kill vaccines. hide as the cause of autism and ‘should be in jail’.
Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Dave Weldon, has also been an outspoken critic of the agency’s vaccine program.
Others — including Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Trump’s pick for surgeon general, and Dr. Martin Makary, whom Trump wants to lead the FDA — have expressed skepticism or opposition to vaccine mandates, but not necessarily to the shots themselves.
Kennedy also pledged to end what he called the FDA’s “aggressive crackdown” on vitamins and supplements.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
