A week and a half ago, Stanford University announced a conference on pandemic policy that features several of the usual suspects who spread misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Truly, Stanford has become the “respectable” academic face of efforts to undermine public health.
Kasper Kepp and John Ioannidis have published a preprint accusing The BMJ of “COVID advocacy” bias in its publications. Although The BMJ has been bad on COVID-19 and vaccines, in this case the “bias” is the rejection of COVID-19 minimization and “natural herd immunity.”
hack: adj.: 1. Working for hire especially with mediocre professional standards (a hack journalist); 2. performed by or suited to a person who works or writes purely for the purpose of earning money; 3. characteristic of a hack 4. MEDIOCRE (e.g.) hack writing, hackneyed, trite.
Thack: adj: All of the above, but in the style of Paul Thacker. Verb (transitive): To write hack hit pieces in the style of Paul Thacker.
I know I’ve written about Paul Thacker’s attacks on young physician Dr. Allison Neitzel three times now, but he just keeps going lower and demanding more not-so-Respectful Insolence. Orac is happy to oblige.
The Brownstone Institute long ago went full anti-COVID-19 vaccination. Now it’s embracing old antivax tropes about the measles vaccine. This was inevitable.
Martin Kulldorff, co-author of the eugenicist Great Barrington Declaration that advocated a “let ‘er rip” strategy to address the pandemic to achieve “natural herd immunity,” laments being “fired” from Harvard. Is it possible to know what really happened? Orac provides educated speculation. (NOTE ADDENDUM.)
