"Flokkimmunitet" og Great Barrington Declaration

I det siste har enkelte norske leger fremsnakket ideen om flokkimmunitet igjen gjennom støtte til Great Barrington Declaration. https://www.nrk.no/.../norske-leger-stotter-omstridt...

Men det er kanskje greit å ha innsikt i hva som er bakgrunnen for oppropet. De tre initiativtakerne er ansatt ved prestisjetunge universitet, men kun en av dem har fullført medisinstudiet - uten å ta turnus. Dette er økonomisk epidemiologi. Og hittil har de ikke truffet godt i sine spådommer. Sunetra Gupta mente at ca. 50 % av befolkningen i UK var smittet i mars, og at pandemien var i ferd med å dø ut i mai. https://unherd.com/.../oxford-doubles-down-sunetra.../...

De tre er blitt omfavnet av Trump-administrasjonen og mottatt av Alex Azar. https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../3910251c-0a60-11eb...

Nå kommer det frem litt mer om hvem som finansierer oppropet. Leger og andre fagfolk i Norge bør vite om disse tingene før man flagger støtte til et slikt initiativ.

Fra The Guardian:

«Journalists have written excitedly about an emerging rift in the scientific community as the consensus around the most effective response to Covid supposedly disintegrates. ... The truth is that a strategy of pursuing “herd immunity” is nothing more than a fringe view. There is no real scientific divide over this approach, because there is no science to justify its usage in the case of Covid-19. ... The president of the UK’s Academy of Medical Sciences, in a detailed rebuttal, describes the declaration’s proposals as “unethical and simply not possible”. It’s time to stop asking the question “is this sound science?” We know it is not. Instead, we should be more curious about the political interests surrounding the declaration. ... we should be asking who funded this piece of political theatre, and for what purpose. ... funders have included tobacco firms, Exxon Mobil and the Koch brothers. ... These are not the names one would associate with sound public health policies. But the trio of scientists who fronted the declaration were able to put the weight of the world’s most prestigious academic institutions behind their statements – Stanford, Harvard and Oxford – giving the declaration a sheen of respectability. The views of these scientists about lockdown and the pursuit of herd immunity are no doubt sincerely held (though, notably, not published in any peer-reviewed scientific articles), but they are falling into a trap set by the right. ..

Some of the tactics these organisations have used in the past are those we see at play in the Great Barrington declaration: discredit the scientific consensus, spread confusion about what the right response is and sow the seeds of doubt. ...

The science is clear: attaining herd immunity to coronavirus via uncontrolled infection is a fringe view, peddled by a minority with no evidence to back up their position. What’s less certain is the political and economic interests that lie behind this declaration. Let the debate begin on those.»

https://www.theguardian.com/.../covid-herd-immunity...

Artikkelen fra BBC nedenfor viser at Atlas-nettverket som står bak dette initiativet er de samme som gjennom årtier har støttet tobakksindustrien og oljeindustrien i å fremstille forskningsresultater på et vis som tjener deres sak. https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-53640382