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Stacy Squires / Stuff
Dr. Samantha Bailey, pictured here in 2017, is being accused of spreading misinformation about Covid-19 on a YouTube channel.
Experts have criticized claims by a Christchurch GP that the most widely used Covid-19 test is unreliable.
Dr. Sam Bailey, who appeared on the TVNZ medical show Checking, stated in a video published in early September that the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was unreliable, contradicting information from the Ministry of Health.
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“It doesn’t test the virus, it tests a piece of genetic material whose significance we don’t know,” Bailey says in the video.
Microbiologist Siouxie Wiles said in an article for The spinoff the claims were wrong and being sold by people who “were pushing the idea that Covid-19 cannot be controlled and we just have to learn to live with the virus.”
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The website of the Ministry of Health says that it is the most reliable test to diagnose Covid-19 if it is taken during the first week of the disease.
“The PCR test looks for specific genetic sequences that are only found in the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” said Wiles.
“That makes it very suitable as a screening tool because it has such a low false positive rate; people are very unlikely to test positive unless the virus is present in the sample.”
The tests were a crucial part of the test, trace and isolation strategy to stop transmission of the virus, which had been shown to be effective, he said.
He did not mention Bailey by name or the link to the video, as it was “full of false information.”
SciFilms
Siouxsie Wiles says testing is a crucial part of the test, trace, and isolation strategy to stop the transmission of the virus.
“What I’m going to say is that just because someone is medically qualified doesn’t necessarily mean that they know anything about diagnostic testing and the complexities of quantitative PCR.”
Professor of Biostatistics Dr. Thomas Lumley said Newshub The PCR test looked for genetic sequences found only in the Covid-19 virus and had a very low false positive rate.
Bailey, who has 92,000 followers on his YouTube channel, also said in the video that he would not receive a Covid-19 vaccine when one was available.
The epidemic would likely have ended before a vaccine was available, he said, since they typically take at least four years to develop. She incorrectly said that Covid-19 was flu-like and that the flu vaccine did not reduce deaths.
Wiles said how long it would take to develop a vaccine is unknown, but four years would be the worst case.
There were seven to eight Covid-19 vaccines in phase three trials around the world as part of an unprecedented development effort.
Wiles said that Bailey’s claim that Covid-19 was flu-like was completely incorrect and therefore irrelevant.
“Influenza is a very different virus. It has several species, within each of those species there are many different types … and it mutates very quickly.
“It’s not that relevant to Covid-19, it doesn’t do any of those things.”
Bailey’s video was shared on the NZ Public Party Facebook page, where it was interacted with more than 5,800 times.
Bailey told Newshub that he defended his claims and had no association with the New Zealand Public Party.
A spokeswoman for TVNZ said Checking The first season was broadcast on TVNZ1 in July of last year.
Bailey graduated from the University of Otago in 2005. In 2018, he launched a business to consult patients via the Internet.
