Authors of Barrington Declaration Speak Out
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- October 4, 2020, three public health scientists launched The Great Barrington Declaration — a public health proposal that calls for focused protection of the most vulnerable while letting the rest of the world resume normal life
- The Great Barrington Declaration has been signed by more than 920,000 individuals, including 46,412 medical practitioners and 15,707 scientists
- It was recently revealed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and his former boss, now retired National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins, colluded behind the scenes to quash the declaration from Day 1
- Focused protection is based on longstanding basic principles of public health that we have followed for decades, while lockdowns are novel, experimental strategies with no history of usefulness
- Fauci and Collins had nothing in terms of actual science. They could not defend lockdowns or anything else based on science alone. So, they turned to propaganda, PR and smear tactics
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October 4, 2020, three public health scientists launched The Great Barrington Declaration1 — a public health proposal that calls for focused protection of the most vulnerable while letting the rest of the world resume normal life. The declaration has since garnered more than 920,000 signatures by doctors, scientists and other health professionals who agree with its premises. The founding trio include:
- Martin Kulldorf, Ph.D., a biostatistician, epidemiologist with expertise in detecting and monitoring infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety evaluations, and a professor of medicine at Harvard University
- Sunetra Gupta, Ph.D., professor at Oxford University, an epidemiologist with expertise in immunology, vaccine development, and mathematical modeling of infectious diseases
- Jay Bhattacharya, MD, Ph.D., professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations
In the video above, Jimmy Dore interviews Kulldorf and Bhattacharya about the declaration, and the recent revelation that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and his former boss, now retired National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins, colluded behind the scenes to quash the declaration from day one.2
“We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.”3
Furthermore, as natural immunity within a population grows, the overall risk of infection declines. So, allowing those at low risk for complications and death to live normally, and potentially get sick but recover, actually helps protect those at greatest risk.
By having everyone isolate at home and avoid contact with others, herd immunity is postponed and the pandemic prolonged. “Our goal should … be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity,” the declaration explains, adding:4
“The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.
Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19. By way of example, nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity and perform frequent testing of other staff and all visitors. Staff rotation should be minimized.
Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. When possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside. A comprehensive and detailed list of measures, including approaches to multi-generational households, can be implemented, and is well within the scope and capability of public health professionals.
Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching.
Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open.
Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.”
