Despite expert testimony to the contrary, documents recently obtained from the National Institutes of Health indicate that public health officials misrepresented medical research and used false information to further their policy goal of masking the prevention of severe COVID-19 and virus transmission.
Top epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and seven colleagues informed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a recently obtained letter that was sent in November 2021 that the agency was pushing erroneous data and excluding data that did not support their narrative.
The agency was forewarned in the letter that falsifying information on reliable websites like the CDC and the COVID-19 Real-Time Learning Network, which was developed in collaboration with the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), would “damage the credibility of science,” jeopardize public confidence by “misrepresenting the evidence,” and inspire false expectations in the public that they would be shielded from the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
“We believe the information and recommendations as provided may actually put an individual at increased risk of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 and for them to experience a serious or even life-threatening infection,” Mr. Osterhom wrote.
The authors urged the IDSA to remove the suggestion that masking prevents severe disease from its website and asked the CDC to reconsider its statements about the “efficacy of masks and face coverings for preventing transmission of SARS-CoV-2.”
In addition, Osterholm saw a pattern of data selection that favored the narrative that masks prevent severe COVID-19 disease and transmission—claims that, according to Osterholm, are not supported by the scientific facts presented on the websites of the CDC and IDSA.
The IDSA “Masks and Face Coverings for the Public” webpage appears to “focus on the strengths of studies that support its conclusions while ignoring their shortcomings of study design,” Mr. Osterholm wrote. “Studies that do not support its perspective are similarly downplayed.”
The COVID-19 Real-Time Learning Network was created in 2020 to share “accurate, timely information about COVID-19.” According to its website, the IDSA’s editorial team of infectious disease and public health experts synthesize clinical guidance, identify emerging scientific consensus and areas of ongoing uncertainty, and tackle “misconceptions and disinformation.”
The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists are just a few of the medical professional organizations with which the IDSA collaborates, despite receiving partial funding from the CDC. These organizations publish medical journals and issue recommendations based on agency guidance.
The letter was addressed to IDSA board members, including Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the former director of the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as CDC officials and the associate medical and associate digital editors of the COVID-19 Real-Time Learning Network.
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