Tag: Great Barrington Declaration

The Great Barrington Declaration and “natural herd immunity” versus public health three years later
Over the weekend, Jeffrey Tucker, founder of the Brownstone Institute, crowed about how the Great Barrington Declaration and its recommendation of a "natural herd immunity" approach to the pandemic changed everything three years ago. Unfortunately, as the John Snow Project pointed out last week, the "natural herd immunity" approach has done what could be irreparable damage to public health science and, more...

When Did “Herd Immunity” Become a Taboo Phrase?
Doctors who repeatedly predicted herd immunity in 2020 and 2021, mocking and berating those who disagreed, now treat herd immunity as a taboo phrase.

Brownstone Institute admits that the Great Barrington Declaration was wrong (without actually admitting it was wrong)
The Brownstone Institute's Gabrielle Bauer claims vindication for the Great Barrington Declaration, the October 2020 document that advocated a "natural herd immunity" pandemic strategy, with an ill-defined "focused protection" strategy to protect those most at risk of death. In the fine print, however, Bauer tacitly admits that its core assumption was badly mistaken, minimizing it as not getting all the "details" right.

I Didn’t Encourage the Spread of COVID. Was I Unethical?
No. I was not unethical.

Does the Mass Infection of Unvaccinated Young People Follow the “Basic Principles of Public Health”?
A pictorial refutation to a central claim of the Great Barrington Declaration.

Lockdowns “Postponed the Inevitable”. Is That a Bad Thing?
Lockdowns postponed COVID for millions of people until after they were vaccinated. Some doctors feel that's a bad thing.

Science denial, overconfidence, and persuasion
The pandemic has brought scientists who have rejected science with respect to COVID-19 public health measures a disturbing level of influence. Recent research suggests reasons why and who among the public susceptible to such misinformation remains persuadable.

“New school” COVID-19 antivaxxers are becoming less and less distinguishable from “old school” antivaxxers
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a new generation of antivaxxers has arisen. Most view themselves as pro-vaccine, just not pro-COVID-19 vaccines. Recent developments, however, have demonstrated that "new school" antivaxxers are increasingly indistinguishable from "old school" antivaxxers and that this fusion is increasingly endangering all public health, not just COVID-19 public health interventions.

Is Anything About the Great Barrington Declaration Even Remotely Relevant?
The authors of the Great Barrington Declaration still claim that herd immunity is possible in 3-6 months.

Recycling old antivax tropes as “bioethics”-based arguments against COVID-19 vaccination for children
A recently published article in Bioethics makes ethical arguments against vaccinating children against COVID-19. If you change the word "COVID-19" to measles, chickenpox, or rotavirus (or others), this article could have been published on one of the higher-brow antivax websites in 2010. Antivax arguments never change; they're just continually recycled.