DUBLIN, Ireland: A general practitioner and former member of the Medical Council has been found guilty of professional misconduct because of social media posts he made during the pandemic that strongly criticized COVID-19 vaccines and public health rules.

A Medical Council fitness-to-practice committee also ruled that Marcus de Brun acted unprofessionally at a public rally in August 2020, where he did not follow social distancing rules or wear a face mask.

Dr. de Brun, a married father of four who ran his own practice in Rush, County Dublin, said he only turned to social media after the Medical Council ignored his concerns. While he accepted the decision, he said the inquiry was not fair.

He called for a public investigation into how the State handled the pandemic and said he believed the Government and regulators were responsible for serious harm.

The decision followed a seven-day inquiry, held since last September, into ten allegations of misconduct related to his criticism of vaccines, lockdowns, face masks, the National Public Health Emergency Team, and the medical profession.

Most of the complaints were about 67 posts he made on Twitter (now X) between May 2020 and October 2021.

The committee found seven allegations proven, including four cases where his actions were described as "disgraceful and dishonorable" and far below the standards expected of doctors.

These included his comments about vaccines, especially for children, lockdowns, and his attendance at a large rally in Dublin on August 22, 2020, which had up to 7,000 people.

In one tweet, he said giving healthy children a genetically based vaccine was "the greatest crime against humanity this century." In another, he suggested that parents vaccinating their children were committing child abuse.

Inquiry chairperson Deirdre Murphy said some of his comments were "grossly irresponsible" for a doctor, while others were emotional, misleading, and reckless. She said his posts referring to "genocide" and "state-sanctioned euthanasia" were inappropriate and sometimes offensive.

She also said it was disappointing that he continued to stand by such comments during the inquiry, even though they should not be part of a proper medical discussion.

The committee said it was worrying that he claimed lockdowns were unnecessary and introduced for hidden reasons.

It also criticized him for posting proudly about shaking many hands at the rally and then treating patients in his clinic less than 48 hours later. His behavior at the event was described as completely unacceptable.

Overall, the inquiry found that 35 of his tweets broke professional guidelines on ethics and social media use for doctors.

The committee said it reviewed each post in its context, including the stage of the pandemic and the rules in place at the time. It also noted that Dr. de Brun admitted he used Twitter to challenge public health advice, even though he knew people would take a doctor's views seriously.