Recently, highly respected researchers have published analyses that exposed the truth about public health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic: much of the time, they were wrong. This was not because they made recommendations based on the data available at the time, but because they refused to change their directives when faced with new evidence that did not support their policies.
In fact, they even censored opposing opinions and put out their own flawed studies in their non-peer-reviewed medical journal, MMWR. As a result, they actively propagated misinformation that ruined lives and damaged public trust in the medical profession. Here are ten ways they misled Americans:
The first misinformation is that vaccinated immunity is better than natural immunity. A Lancet study revealed that natural immunity was at least as effective as the primary COVID vaccine series, and the scientific data from 160 studies supported this finding. However, this information was dismissed and censored.
The second misinformation is that masks prevent COVID transmission. A highly-respected Oxford research team published a Cochran Review that found masks had no significant impact on COVID transmission. However, the CDC director downplayed this review and argued that it was flawed because it focused on randomized controlled studies.
The third misinformation is that school closures reduced COVID transmission. The European experience of keeping schools open without mask mandates was ignored by the CDC, and studies conducted in Spain and Sweden showed no difference in transmission rates.
The fourth misinformation is that the vaccine has no side effects. Public health officials downplayed concerns about vaccine-induced myocarditis and cited poorly designed studies with under-captured complication rates. However, a flurry of well-designed studies showed the opposite.
The fifth misinformation is that young people benefit from a vaccine booster. While boosters reduced hospitalizations in older, high-risk Americans, there was no evidence that they reduced COVID mortality in young, healthy people.
The sixth misinformation is that vaccine mandates increased vaccination rates. Despite the broad recognition that vaccination does not reduce transmission, mandates persisted, and a recent study from George Mason University showed that vaccine mandates in nine major U.S. cities had no impact on vaccination rates or COVID transmission rates.
The seventh misinformation is that COVID originating from the Wuhan Lab is a conspiracy theory. Overwhelming circumstantial evidence points to a lab leak origin, but this was dismissed by Dr. Francis Collins, head of the NIH.
The eighth misinformation is that it was important to get both vaccine doses quickly. Data showed that spacing out the vaccine by three months reduced complication rates and increased immunity, but this information was ignored.
The ninth misinformation is that data on the bivalent vaccine is “crystal clear.” Despite the bivalent vaccine being approved using data from only eight mice, Dr. Ashish Jha claimed that the data were crystal clear.
The tenth misinformation is that one in five people get long COVID. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that 20% of COVID infections can result in long COVID, but a U.K. study found that only 3% of COVID patients had residual symptoms lasting 12 weeks.
Despite a mountain of strong studies showing that they were wrong, public health officials have not apologized for holding onto their recommendations for so long. A mea culpa by those who led us astray would be nice, and the CDC should come clean while the FDA should add a warning label to COVID vaccines, clearly stating what is now known.
»Truth about public health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic«
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