VICE on nurses who spread false information about Covid
In March 2023 VICE News reported that Nevada nurse Nicole Sirotek and her group American Frontline Nurses had been spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines, while harassing those who challenged them. A particular focus was the group’s targeting of nurse practitioner Tyler Kuhk, with tactics that included meritless complaints to his employer, his nursing board, and the police.
March 2, 2023 – Today VICE News posted a strong piece by David Gilbert about former nurse Nicole Sirotek, whose group American Frontline Nurses has reportedly been spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and harassing health professionals who question their actions. A main target of the group has been nurse practitioner Tyler Kuhk, who has long served on the Truth About Nursing’s advisory panel. The VICE article was “Meet the ‘American Frontline Nurses’ Telling Parents to Give Kids Ivermectin.” The report noted that Sirotek had used social media to push messaging opposing vaccines and other proven public health measures, while making baseless claims that health workers were intentionally killing patients. When Kuhk and others began to post videos debunking Sirotek’s claims and urging that she be removed from a Nevada state nursing board committee, the VICE piece said, she and her group began a campaign of harassment that involved making baseless complaints to the police, as well as Kuhk’s employer and nursing board. The report did a good job of establishing that the Sirotek situation was part of a larger “disinformation ecosystem.” In that system, individuals gain attention and other benefits through conspiracy-oriented falsehoods, then when challenged, divert attention and escalate the conflict by making more false claims about the challengers themselves. It’s distressing that nurses are a part of this dynamic. The article might have provided even more context, including making clearer that nurses are not the only group of health workers with this problem. But at least it showed that many nurses have the health knowledge and the courage to fight the misinformation, even at great personal cost. We thank VICE and nursing advocates like Tyler Kuhk who fight for the right of patients to receive the truth about health and health care.
Giving children ivermectin
The VICE piece led with information about the harassment Kuhk has faced over the last year because he challenged Sirotek. The article said that Kuhk had already spent years using social media (on Instagram and TikTok) to convey accurate health information when he discovered Sirotek’s activities. He became especially concerned after learning that she had a non-profit group and that she served on the Nevada Board of Nursing’s nursing practice advisory committee. Kuhk made complaints to the Board and posted videos about Sirotek’s misinformation, but he said the Board ignored his complaints, and did not start to investigate until the videos gained thousands of views and inspired additional complaints. The piece reported that this eventually led to Sirotek surrendering her license in October 2022 to avoid disciplinary action. VICE reported that in her submission to the Board, Sirotek stated:
I freely admit that I instructed viewers on a social media platform to give children ivermectin.
The experience has taken a toll on Kuhk. He told VICE that he remains dedicated to nursing, but that given his experience dealing with Sirotek, including the Nevada nursing board’s apparent reluctance to address the situation, “the risks almost seem to outweigh the benefits.” Meanwhile, the campaign against Kuhk reportedly included being reported to the police for supposedly threatening Sirotek’s children, having his workplace “inundated” with calls asking that he be fired, and complaints to his own state nursing board in Washington state. The police department and the Elko County District Attorney reportedly dismissed the claims against him, finding no evidence to support them, based on documents VICE reviewed. The complaints to Kuhk’s licensing board, which made claims similar to those Sirotek had previously made, were eventually resolved. We wrote a letter to the board in support of Tyler Kuhk.
VICE said that Kuhk has not been the only nurse to face “harassment for calling out Sirotek’s lies.” The piece had detail about New Jersey nurse practitioner Lori Boyle, who reportedly posted on social media about Sirotek’s misinformation and filed a complaint about her with the Nevada board. Sirotek apparently filed a report with the police in Elko, where Sirotek lives, claiming that Boyle was harassing her. Boyle said the police report “went nowhere.”
Another nurse, Heather Bateman, who has “called out Sirotek’s disinformation for years,” offered analysis:
The truth is hardly sensational, which is why Nicole Sirotek and other anti-vaccine and anti-science professionals have moved toward the grifting line of disinformation. That is sensational and brings them far more fame and money than their previous healthcare careers ever could have.
The article has a lot of information about Sirotek’s activities, as well as the broader context of what it calls “the disinformation ecosystem.” Sirotek reportedly first became well-known after going to New York City in the early stages of the Covid pandemic and posting a YouTube video falsely claiming that other health workers were “killing all the patients for money” and comparing the ICU to a Nazi gas chamber. After the clip went viral, she reportedly went on to become “a major pusher of COVID and vaccine disinformation,” headlining “conspiracy conferences” and generally aligning herself with leading figures in that “disinformation ecosystem.” The piece describes her appearance at the “Global Frontline Nurses Summit” in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, which was apparently one of the lead-up events to the speech by then-President Donald Trump that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol. One of the other figures appearing was reportedly Vladimir Zelenko, “a doctor who was scrutinized by prosecutors after touting a supposed COVID-19 miracle cure that had not been approved by the FDA.” Photo of their plans for a rally below:
In July 2021, Sirotek reportedly formed American Frontline Nurses, obtained exemption from federal tax under section 501(c)(3), which allows for tax-deductible contributions, and proceeded to “undermine[] COVID-16 vaccine rollouts,” “attack childhood vaccine programs,” promote other conspiracy theories that damage public health, and attack health workers. The piece described one video in which Sirotek “encouraged her followers to call a facility in Florida that she claimed was ‘murdering their COVID patients.’” A financial statement apparently showed that her group raised more than $80,000 in the second half of 2021 alone. The piece says her Facebook account has 33,000 followers. Meanwhile, apparently unable to find work in the clinical setting since posting the video about New York, Sirotek has reportedly registered for nursing licenses in Nevada and Utah using a different name. An online search for Nicole Sirotek at Nursys reveals results for “Marie Rosalie Cordero,” whose Nevada license was voluntarily surrendered in November 2022 and whose Utah license expired in January 2023.
The VICE piece explained that professionals like Kuhk are among a small group that has tried to counter health misinformation on social media, but during the pandemic, that group has been overwhelmed. The article quotes Joe Smyser, who leads the non-profit Public Good Projects, which works to address vaccine hesitancy. He describes the interactions between the public health professionals and the misinformers as “asymmetrical warfare,” with the latter inclined to “respond by making it immediately very personal, very intimate, very scary.” His group has an initiative called Shots Heard Around the World, which helps those like Kuhk with downloadable presentations countering misinformation. Smyser himself has reportedly been doxxed and had death threats. He described the misinformers’ common tactics as claiming victimhood and censorship by technology companies and the government.
VICE sought comment from many of the above actors. It tried in multiple ways to reach Sirotek and American Frontline Nurses, to no avail. It sought comment from the Nevada nursing board, its individual members, and the advisory committee on which she served from at least June 2019 until as recently as May 24, 2022; none responded. And it asked Facebook for comment about the concern that social media companies should do more to address the misinformation situation, but received no immediate response.
On the whole, the piece was a very strong account of the courageous efforts of health workers to counter misinformation, even at significant personal cost. Of course, the piece did not show nurses in a completely positive light, but it’s important to face real issues in the profession, and it provided ample coverage of the efforts of Tyler Kuhk, Lori Boyle, and Heather Bateman to protect public health. In addition, although the report obviously shared the perspective of those health workers and presented Sirotek and her group as spreading lies in order to gain fame and profit, it rightly did offer the misinformers and other players chances to comment. The piece might have done a bit more to show that the problem extends to other types of health workers. It did at least mention that Zelenko is a physician, but it did not identify another anti-vax leader it mentioned (Peter McCullough) as one. Nor did it note that a more prominent anti-vax, conspiracy-promoting group called America’s Frontline Doctors, founded in 2019, would seem to have been a pretty likely inspiration for Sirotek’s group. VICE itself has reported extensively on the dangerous antics of that physician group. On the other side, the piece might have mentioned TEAM Halo, a UN-affiliated group of international health professionals who, like Kuhk, work to combat misinformation. Despite these minor points, the VICE piece was a very helpful portrait of nurses advocating strongly to protect their society and their profession. And an additional effect of that advocacy is showing the public that most nurses are knowledgeable health professionals. We thank VICE News and, of course, the nurses who are providing accurate health information.
As of this writing, Tyler Kuhk appears to be under continued attack from Nicole Sirotek and her group. If you would like to work with him to fight against the misinformers and bring the truth to the public, you can follow Tyler on Instagram and on TikTok.
See the whole team of health professionals fighting misinformation on Team Halo.
See the article by David Gilbert “Meet the ‘American Frontline Nurses’ Telling Parents to Give Kids Ivermectin: Nicole Sirotek has been using social media to spread disinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines—and going after fellow nurses who try to push back,” published on VICE on March 2, 2023.
See an Associated Press article debunking Nicole Sirotek’s claims: “Nurse peddles baseless claim that COVID treatment remdesivir is lethal,” by Angelo Fichera, published on February 9, 2022.
There’s a real problem when regulators fail to act, and in this case possibly support this type of thing. Why haven’t we heard more nursing organizations cover the regulatory failures/concerns here?
In 2020, a nurse manager was reported to their state board after retaliating against a travel nurse during Covid. The nurse, who was terminated, had raised concerns about inadequate masks on a Covid unit. Consequently, a fellow nurse died from Covid a few weeks after. The Board did not act against the manager.
I hope that Tyler can get a restraining order against this defective nurse and hit her in the pocketbook.
How did former nurse Nicole Sirotek of American Frontline Nurses get to testify at a US Senate hearing in 2022? Where was the ANA?
We understand that she spoke, along with other health professionals holding similar views, at a panel discussion hosted by Senator Ron Johnson called “Covid 19: A Second Opinion.” This panel discussion appears to have been held at one of the Senate office buildings, but does not appear to have been a formal hearing.
Since the “vaccine” doesn’t prevent the disease and people contracted COVID several times even after getting boosted and even COVID researchers are back pedaling, perhaps the frontline nurses and doctors have more merit than they are being given credit for
Hi Joanne, Please don’t post dangerous and false information on our site. The Covid vaccine DOES prevent Covid, and serious illness. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vaccine/art-20484859
It does not prevent all illness, but a ton of research shows that it prevents many cases, and those cases that do get through to vaccinated patients are less serious than the cases in unvaccinated patients as a whole.
Also, my own personal experience practicing in the ICU throughout the heart of the Covid years bears this out. Once the vaccine came on the scene, about 95% of the people we were taking care of in the ICU were unvaccinated. And the vaccinated people in the ICU were generally cancer patients or the immunosuppressed–the people we are supposed to be protecting from disease by getting our vaccinations because their immune systems don’t respond well enough to the vaccine to mount an effective immune response.
This is a no misinformation zone. No more anti-vax crap on our site. Please everybody get all the vaccinations recommended in your country so we can protect the most vulnerable among us.
Absolutely!! It’s amazing that something like this could even be published at this point! What a farce!