Jesse Brown is Worse than an Anti-Vaxxer

In the trailer for his new podcast series, “The White Saviors”, there is a short but very alarming quote about our immunization programs in Africa.

An unnamed voice states that WE Charity’s vaccination programs are “a blatant lie”.

In an era of vaccine hesitancy fueled by misinformation, this is a terrible accusation to make and one that is completely false.

The creator of the podcast series, Jesse Brown, denies that WE Charity vaccinated people through our fundraising campaigns. Brown’s words are the “blatant lie”.

I have participated in the vaccinations here in Kenya. We have a Level 4 Hospital that we built and run in the country. We operate the vaccination campaigns in partnership with the Government of Kenya that provides the vaccines through UN funding. Hundreds of visiting medical practitioners have joined with Kenyans to participate in our medical programs. We have mobile medical clinics serving throughout the Narok region. I’ve seen the vaccination campaigns with my own eyes. Don’t believe me? See for yourself, video evidence here and photography evidence here.

But Jesse Brown doesn’t listen to evidence. Why? Because he makes money through his content attacking WE Charity. And towards that end, his podcast has some anonymous voice saying that the charity did not carry out the work.

Let’s remember that Jesse Brown is the same person who, while working for CBC Radio, faked a scene for a news program by having someone pretend to be someone else to provide a radio quote. He was disciplined by CBC management for the stunt and eventually let go. He later boasted about it on his website. Is this a believable person with his “anonymous source”?

To say that there is something false or suspicious about our immunization programs is incredibly dangerous and harmful. African communities, in particular, are already nervous about vaccines — this is a well-documented — fueled by mistrust of governments and the prevalence of counterfeit medications on the continent. This feeling has only been heightened by the misinformation about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine. We must speak with great care about our healthcare systems, especially in this time.

False accusations like that in Brown’s podcast only add to the uncertainty and fear about vaccines in our communities. Brown has attacked WE Charity’s work, which caused a loss of funds for our medical programs in Kenya. Children will die because of this.

The accusation that our programs are “a lie” is grossly offensive to me and the hundreds of global medical practitioners who have participated in our extremely successful immunization programs.

All the funds raised for these programs go directly to helping children as intended.

By stating otherwise, Jesse Brown is creating vaccine misinformation, which is extremely dangerous and irresponsible for communities like mine where the need for immunization is among the greatest in the world.

Jesse Brown should retract and apologize for this terrible lie.