Anti-science movement set up US for worse pandemic: Expert
Jan 31, 2021
Washington [US], January 31 : US infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Hotez has said that the anti-science movement has set up the United States and the world up for a worse Covid-19 pandemic than otherwise would have been.
"An anti-science disinformation campaign of unprecedented magnitude and led by both multinational corporations and some governments, especially the Russian and US Governments, fuels the pandemic," Hotez, dean for the National School for Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, wrote in the journal Plos Biology as quoted by CNN.
He added, "Although President Trump did not win reelection and the new Biden administration has vowed to mount an evidence-based pandemic strategy, the anti-science pursuits of the Trump White House and Coronavirus Task Force have caused serious harm."
According to CNN, the essay comes as the US races to try to get a majority of Americans vaccinated by the end of the summer. The Covid-19 pandemic arrived as the anti-vaccination movement had been amplified and politicized on the internet, Hotez said and pointed to vaccine disinformation efforts both in Russia and the US that appeared to accelerate in 2014 ahead of the 2016 US presidential election that led to Trump's presidency.
"During this time, the anti-vaccine movement began rallying behind medical freedom to counter the introduction of bills in the California legislature designed to close nonmedical exemptions for vaccines," wrote Hotez.
He stated that the anti-vaccination movement gained traction during the pandemic. Added to that were protests citing "independent choice" and" freedom" against face masks, social distancing, and contact tracing. "Fueling these sentiments was an active and unabashed anti-science disinformation initiative by the White House," Hotez said.
He further said that the US leading the world in coronavirus cases and deaths can be attributed to a lack of a national coordinated effort to utilize face masks, social distancing, school closures, testing, and contact tracing.
"Thus, anti-science disinformation that advocates shunning masks could inflict a mass casualty event in the US," Hotez wrote.
CNN reported further that Hotez suggested that the US may have to remove anti-science content and organizations from social media and e-commerce sites. He added that the US should form an interagency government task force to handle such matters, including representatives from all parts of government, including the departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, and Homeland security.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the US has reported over 26 million COVID-19 cases.
