Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including 'Dr Johnny Bananas', 'Prof Cominic Dummings'

[muriel_volestrangler]

The Great Barrington declaration, which was said to have been signed by more than 15,000 scientists and medical practitioners around the world, was found by Sky News to contain numerous false names, as well as those of several homeopaths.

Others listed include a resident at the “university of your mum” and another supposed specialist whose name was the first verse of the Macarena.

Sky News discovered 18 self-declared homeopaths in the list of expert names and more than 100 therapists whose expertise included massage, hypnotherapy and Mongolian khoomii singing.
...
It is not clear how many of the names in the declaration’s list of experts are fake, or when they appeared. However, many scientists have already criticised the letter’s conclusions.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/09/herd-immunity-letter-signed-fake-experts-dr-johnny-bananas-covid

This matters because it was used to justify Alex Azar, head of HHS, and Scott Atlas, Peter Principle specialist promoted outside his expertise, meeting the authors:

Described as “the Great Barrington declaration”, after the Massachusetts town where it was drawn up, the plan marks the latest round in a hotly contested debate between scientists who back radically different approaches to the crisis. One critic said the “grotesque” plan amounted to a culling of sick and disabled people.

The authors of the declaration – Sunetra Gupta, of Oxford University, Jay Bhattacharya, of Stanford University, and Martin Kulldorff, of Harvard University – argue that Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions are having “devastating effects” on public health by disrupting routine care and harming mental health, with the underprivileged bearing the greatest burden.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/06/scientists-call-for-herd-immunity-covid-strategy-for-young

Martin Kulldorff, a professor at Harvard; Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford; and Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford, all of whom are epidemiologists studying infectious diseases, were invited to the meeting by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Scott Atlas, an adviser to Trump on whom other experts have cast doubt for his statements about COVID-19, including his endorsement of herd immunity.

In the meeting, the three doctors told Azar that allowing the virus to spread uncontrolled among young, healthy people while protecting older adults and those at higher risk for serious illness would build up enough population immunity to stop it from spreading widely while avoiding lockdowns and other mitigation measures that have had a damaging impact on the economy.
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Atlas told The Hill in an email that he attended the meeting and supports the declaration the group put out endorsing herd immunity.
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It said keeping restrictions in place until a vaccine is available will cause damage, and makes the case for allowing young people to get the coronavirus while shielding the vulnerable from it so that herd immunity is built up without a vaccine. The group calls this “focused protection.”

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/519727-trump-health-official-meets-with-doctors-pushing-herd-immunity

[Midnight Writer]

1. Again, we have the example of other nations who have controlled this virus.

We already have the highest (by far) death rate of any country.

"Restrictions" as simple as requiring masks be worn properly in public places and limited "lockdowns" in "hot spots" would put this to rest quickly.

If other countries around the world are able to tamp down the infection rate, why can't we?

Because our leaders refuse to take simple, commonsense measures.

[Nevilledog]

2. *sigh*

[cojoel]

3. From Monty Python's life of Brian

I have a vewy gweat fwiend in Wome called 'Biggus Dickus'