A caller to my radio show yesterday, a physician, took strong issue with me regarding COVID-19 therapeutics. He accused me of not believing in science. His last words before we had to go to a commercial break were, "I'm a scientist."
Given that I am not a scientist, he assumed that comment would persuade me -- or at least persuade many listeners -- that I was not qualified to disagree with him.
If that was his assumption, he was wrong.
"I don't care," I responded. "It's irrelevant. Scientists have given science a bad name."
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In mid-2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the medical community was demanding physical distancing, mask wearing and the lockdown of businesses and schools, more than a thousand health care professionals announced that the protests against racism then taking place -- events with no social distancing, often no masks, plenty of yelling, and people "coughing uncontrollably" (New York Times description) -- were medically necessary.
Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted, "We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus. In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus."
Over 1,000 health care professionals signed an "open letter advocating for an anti-racist public health response to demonstrations against systemic injustice occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic."
The letter said, among other things, "Do not disband protests under the guise of maintaining public health for COVID-19 restrictions" and labeled "pervasive racism ... the paramount public health problem." That's a left-wing cant, not science.
Now you can better appreciate why "I am a scientist" no longer means what it once did.
How about the cruelty of not allowing the dying to be visited by loved ones -- even if they wore a hospital mask, even if they agreed to wear a hazmat suit? Did that enhance your view of scientists' medical judgment?
Then there was the American medical community's opposition to therapeutics, dismissing hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin (both used with zinc) as frauds despite the testimony of numerous physicians that they saved COVID-19 patients' lives when used appropriately. State medical boards around the country threatened to revoke the medical license of any physician who prescribed these drugs to treat COVID-19 -- despite these drugs being among the safest prescription drugs available.
As early as July 2020, Harvey Risch, M.D., Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, wrote in Newsweek:
"I myself know of two doctors who have saved the lives of hundreds of patients with these medications, but are now fighting state medical boards to save their licenses and reputations. The cases against them are completely without scientific merit."
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Given that I am not a scientist, he assumed that comment would persuade me -- or at least persuade many listeners -- that I was not qualified to disagree with him.
If that was his assumption, he was wrong.
"I don't care," I responded. "It's irrelevant. Scientists have given science a bad name."
[clip]
In mid-2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the medical community was demanding physical distancing, mask wearing and the lockdown of businesses and schools, more than a thousand health care professionals announced that the protests against racism then taking place -- events with no social distancing, often no masks, plenty of yelling, and people "coughing uncontrollably" (New York Times description) -- were medically necessary.
Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, tweeted, "We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus. In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus."
Over 1,000 health care professionals signed an "open letter advocating for an anti-racist public health response to demonstrations against systemic injustice occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic."
The letter said, among other things, "Do not disband protests under the guise of maintaining public health for COVID-19 restrictions" and labeled "pervasive racism ... the paramount public health problem." That's a left-wing cant, not science.
Now you can better appreciate why "I am a scientist" no longer means what it once did.
How about the cruelty of not allowing the dying to be visited by loved ones -- even if they wore a hospital mask, even if they agreed to wear a hazmat suit? Did that enhance your view of scientists' medical judgment?
Then there was the American medical community's opposition to therapeutics, dismissing hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin (both used with zinc) as frauds despite the testimony of numerous physicians that they saved COVID-19 patients' lives when used appropriately. State medical boards around the country threatened to revoke the medical license of any physician who prescribed these drugs to treat COVID-19 -- despite these drugs being among the safest prescription drugs available.
As early as July 2020, Harvey Risch, M.D., Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, wrote in Newsweek:
"I myself know of two doctors who have saved the lives of hundreds of patients with these medications, but are now fighting state medical boards to save their licenses and reputations. The cases against them are completely without scientific merit."
You're a Scientist? So What?
A caller to my radio show yesterday, a physician, took strong issue with me regarding COVID-19 therapeutics.
