A midwife has been struck off after a string of social media posts spreading conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and vaccinations.
Seana Mary Kerr, of Newry, Northern Ireland, claimed vaccines attacked babies in the womb.
The nurse also warned a pregnant woman not to wear a face mask as it would harm her child.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) tribunal panel ordered Kerr, who had been a registered midwife since 2007, to be struck off the register because her comments ‘risked seriously undermining the public confidence’.
All of the incidents took place while she was employed as a registered midwife by Southern Health and Social Care Trust.
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The midwife first took to social media in September 2020, six months after the first national lockdown due to coronavirus in March.
She posted that she was a midwife and said babies were being attacked in the womb through vaccination of mothers during pregnancy.
A few months later, in March 2021, she called Covid-19 pandemic ‘a Trojan horse intend[ed] to introduce a new era for humanity’.
Kerr slammed fellow nurses and doctors as ‘complicit’ in the conspiracy.
In December that year she described how ‘they’ had been ‘planting the seeds’ about Covid-19 over Christmas 2020 by referring to ‘some bat in China’. She did not specify who ‘they’ referred to.
The panel slammed Kerr for the social media posts.
They said: ‘The panel considered that the actions of Ms Kerr took place during an exceptionally unusual time, where the entirety of the NHS was mobilised to protect the public from the international Covid-19 pandemic.
‘Therefore, by expressing the view that other healthcare professionals, who Ms Kerr was working with in the Trust, were acting in ways which may cause harm, a view Ms Kerr held which was against the recognised guidance at the time, Ms Kerr risked seriously undermining the public confidence in the profession.’
The panel also investigated an encounter between the nurse and a pregnant women working in a shop in August 2020.
Kerr approached the mum-to-be, explaining she was a nurse and telling her not to wear a face mask.
The midwife said face masks reduced the amount of oxygen her baby was getting.
Kerr then went on to warn the pregnant women not to get the flu vaccine, saying this raised the risk her child would be stillborn.
This was in direct contrast with the Trust’s Coronavirus (Covid-19) Infection in Pregnancy policy.
This policy advised the wearing of face masks and said the ‘influenza vaccination is still safe’ and ‘recommended’ for pregnant women.
Kerr’s comments caused ‘significant emotional harm’ to the expecting mum and her family, the panel said.
They added: ‘The panel noted that it is a reasonable expectation of everyone working in a public environment, such as a shop, that they will not be approached and given personal, clinical advice.
‘Such advice would normally only be given during a private clinical appointment or at an antenatal class.
‘Therefore, by approaching Patient A in her place of work, outside a clinical relationship, unsolicited, Ms Kerr placed her at significant risk of harm.’
Kerr was found to be at risk of repeating this behaviour and not suitable to continue practice.
The nurse showed no remorse for her misconduct had not engaged with the tribunal since June 2022, the panel added.
A 12 month suspension was imposed on Kerr last year and her name will now be removed from the register.
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