An annual ‘award’ for the Australian who most egregiously spreads scientific misinformation has been handed to federal MP Craig Kelly for his repeated rants against COVID-19 vaccines.

The Bent Spoon award is handed out by the Australian Skeptics society to “the proponent of the most preposterous piece of pseudoscientific or paranormal piffle” each year.

Mr Kelly was given the nod for “shouting misinformation about COVID and vaccinations for some time, offering dubious cures, conspiracy theories and an interesting way with statistics”, the society announced on the weekend.

The MP for Hughes, in Sydney’s south, started advocating for use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 in 2020 before moving on to promotion of ivermectin, baselessly accusing Pfizer of suppressing evidence that the antiparasitic worked.