Recent emails obtained by the American Institute for Economic Research show that Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Francis Collins, MD, former director of the National Institutes of Health, quashed dissenting views from top scientists about pandemic measures, according to an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal Dec. 21.
The emails were in response to "The Great Barrington Declaration," a statement against lockdown measures, favoring instead focused measures that would prioritize the medically vulnerable and high-risk population. The declaration was signed by thousands of scientists, including a Nobel Prize winner.
In an email to Dr. Fauci, Dr. Collins said of the "Barrington Declaration," "There needs to be a quick and devastating published take-down of its premises."
Dr. Collins then spoke to The Washington Post, calling the declaration "a fringe component of epidemiology. This is not mainstream science. It's dangerous."
The Journal article argues that Dr. Fauci then angled himself as a representative of science itself, not allowing discourse or dissenting opinions, which were all too important to pandemic policy.
"Rather than try to manipulate public opinion, the job of health officials is to offer their best scientific advice. They shouldn't act like politicians or censors, and when they do, they squander the public's trust," write the editors of the Journal's opinion page.