Weatherman2020
Diamond Member
Because we all know good science stifles all scientists who are not anointed in power. Just ask Galileo.
In public, Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins urge Americans to âfollow the science.â In private, the two sainted public-health officials schemed to quash dissenting views from top scientists. Thatâs the troubling but fair conclusion from emails obtained recently via the Freedom of Information Act by the American Institute for Economic Research.
The tale unfolded in October 2020 after the launch of the Great Barrington Declaration, a statement by Harvardâs Martin Kulldorff, Oxfordâs Sunetra Gupta and Stanfordâs Jay Bhattacharya against blanket pandemic lockdowns. They favored a policy of what they called âfocused protectionâ of high-risk populations such as the elderly or those with medical conditions. Thousands of scientists signed the declarationâif they were able to learn about it. We tried to give it some elevation on these pages. [âŚ]
These researchers werenât fringe and neither was their opposition to quarantining society. But in the panic over the virus, these two voices of science used their authority to stigmatize dissenters and crush debate. A week after his email, Dr. Collins spoke to the Washington Post about the Great Barrington Declaration. âThis is a fringe component of epidemiology,â he said. âThis is not mainstream science. Itâs dangerous.â His message spread and the alternative strategy was dismissed in most precincts.
Dr. Fauci replied to Dr. Collins that the takedown was underway. An article in Wired, a tech-news site, denied there was any scientific divide and argued lockdowns were a straw manâthey werenât coming back. If only it were true. The next month cases rose and restrictions returned.
www.wsj.com
In public, Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins urge Americans to âfollow the science.â In private, the two sainted public-health officials schemed to quash dissenting views from top scientists. Thatâs the troubling but fair conclusion from emails obtained recently via the Freedom of Information Act by the American Institute for Economic Research.
The tale unfolded in October 2020 after the launch of the Great Barrington Declaration, a statement by Harvardâs Martin Kulldorff, Oxfordâs Sunetra Gupta and Stanfordâs Jay Bhattacharya against blanket pandemic lockdowns. They favored a policy of what they called âfocused protectionâ of high-risk populations such as the elderly or those with medical conditions. Thousands of scientists signed the declarationâif they were able to learn about it. We tried to give it some elevation on these pages. [âŚ]
These researchers werenât fringe and neither was their opposition to quarantining society. But in the panic over the virus, these two voices of science used their authority to stigmatize dissenters and crush debate. A week after his email, Dr. Collins spoke to the Washington Post about the Great Barrington Declaration. âThis is a fringe component of epidemiology,â he said. âThis is not mainstream science. Itâs dangerous.â His message spread and the alternative strategy was dismissed in most precincts.
Dr. Fauci replied to Dr. Collins that the takedown was underway. An article in Wired, a tech-news site, denied there was any scientific divide and argued lockdowns were a straw manâthey werenât coming back. If only it were true. The next month cases rose and restrictions returned.
Opinion | How Fauci and Collins Shut Down Covid Debate
They worked with the media to trash the Great Barrington Declaration.