Deliberate destruction of biosamples

With Professor of Medicine, Dr. Wendy Hoy and the aborted QoVax study.

If we shed some light on events, perhaps a way forward might be devised.

The Intent of this program was to study the effects and benefits of Covid Vaccines, through a prospective study over several years of a representative sample of adults in Queenland, which has one fifth of the Australia’s population and an area seven times that of the UK.

Several of the major research and health care institutions in QLD were collaborators in the study. The Estimated cost over several years was to be Aus $20 million. It was a show-cased as a “real time study” with few to compare internationally.

Participants gave detailed informed consent. Their vaccine status and Covid histories were recorded at baseline and ongoing (15% were unvaccinated at enrolment): and biosamples were gathered at baseline and ongoing. Biosamples included DNA, with the intern of evaluating potential genomic associations of susceptibility to Covid, as well as to reactions to and efficacy of the vaccines.

In parallel, all hospital admissions, outcomes, deaths and costs, were to be followed through the existing linked data system built and maintained by Queensland Health, the state’s single public health service provider.

Enrolment started in late July 2021: 10,600 participants were ultimately recruited: baseline observations and biosamples were acquired. Then longitudinal surveillance & intermittent biosampling began.

It was suddenly announced in mid-2023, when many participants would have been followed for less than a year, that enrolment would cease, that the surveillance data would be indefinitely quarantined and the stored biosamples would be destroyed within 12 months. This occurred without advance notice or consultation of participants or of the study team.

Explanations offered to the participants for this abrupt change in plan included competing needs for funding, and the claim that most of study questions had already been answered. However, questions about vaccine safety and efficacy have only ballooned over time, making this study a uniquely valuable resource of real time information to which there is little comparable, internationally.

Perhaps Queensland Health was discouraged by early signals of vaccine harm in the program. The potential influence of pharma companies which have made major commitments to funding research in Queensland has been mentioned by Rebecca Weisser in the links provided.

Over the following 12 months, the study team of 27 people was disbanded. Then, in May 2025, study participants were notified that the biosamples would be destroyed within the next 2 weeks, and the study data would be quarantined indefinitely.

Protests about the action have included attempts to share this story more broadly : Sen Malcolm Roberts has made a powerful video presentation and several journalists have written powerful articles

They also include actions to prevent destruction of samples and data.

• On June 10, a petition was presented to Queenland parliament to halt the destruction of the samples and to protest cessation of the study. The Chief Petitioner was Mr Allen Ballard, with about 6,800 signatures

• Mr Julian Gillespie, acting for legal firm, PJ O’Brien, has protested, on behalf of study participants, about destruction of the biosamples, arguing that it constitutes the criminal offence of destruction of evidence and of potential evidence. Notably, Mr Gillespie has for more than 2 years, been a global leader in promoting understanding and awareness of the DNA contamination of the mRNA vaccines, and its long term persistence in recipients.

Queensland COVID-19 Vaccination Safety and Efficacy Statewide Study.//healthtranslationqld.org.au/news-events. 27 April 2022

Immediately halt the destruction of data, biospecimens, and preliminary reports as part of QoVAX Research program. Allan Ballard Chief Petitioner, http:www.parliament qld.gov.au. June 10, 2025

Malcolm Roberts. Crime scene in the making. Hospital moves to destroy Covid vaccine date.

Rebecca WeisserDon’t axe the QoVax. A priceless biobank with the answers to long Covid is threatened with destruction.

Rebecca Weisser. The killing of QoVax. The mRNA data set for desttruction. › 2025/05 ›

Rebekah Barnett. Globally significant' Covid vaccine study biobank to be destroyed, 15 April 2025

Rebekah Barnett. Canberra Daily version