October 8, 2020, former NIH Director Francis Collins instructed Dr. Anthony Fauci and others to coordinate “a quick and devastating published take down” of the Great Barrington Debate (GBD) and its “three fringe epidemiologists,” in reality, 3 world-renowned infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists: Martin Kulldorff, PhD, Sunetra Gupta, PhD, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD.
In place of the devastating lockdown policies, the GBD championed the following: “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.”
Soon after its introduction to the world, Collins and Fauci made haste in carrying out their plan to discredit the GBD and its authors.
Phil Magness, who broke the story, shared details in tweets Dec. 17, 2021:
“It starts on 10/08/20 when Collins instructs Fauci and his staff to “take down” the GBD and the “fringe” scientists behind it.”
“Fauci responds immediately by circulating an article against the GBD from that austere scientific authority, @WiredUK.”
“The Fauci-endorsed Wired article is noteworthy for having one of the single worst hot-takes of the entire pandemic. It declared in October 2020 that the GBD should be ignored, because lockdowns were a thing of the past and would not be returning!”
“The next day, Fauci sends Collins an angry rant against the GBD in the @TheNation by @gregggonsalves. Collins approves.”
“Far from a scientific study refuting the GBD, Gonsalves’s article is a political op-ed attacking @Jacobin magazine for breaking “solidarity” with other far-left media outlets on lockdowns. Why? Because Jacobin ran an interview with @MartinKulldorff on how lockdowns hurt the poor.”
“Over the weekend, Collins launches the smear campaign against the GBD in the Washington Post.”
“Collins and Fauci email each other about the WaPo hit, with Fauci quipping that the White House was “too busy with other things to worry about this” – perhaps an election reference? – and therefore would not push back on the anti-GBD campaign.”
“In the meantime, Gonsalves also gets in contact with Collins to volunteer his services (along with future @CDCDirector Rochelle Walensky) to attack the GBD in the media. Collins approves, and forwards it to Fauci and a bunch of NIH underlings.”
“The emails get murky around 10/14/20, because the NIH redacted a bunch of emails that appear to be between Fauci and Collins. Surrounding context suggests they were discussing how to trash the GBD if it came up at the WH Covid task force meeting on 10/16.”
“On the morning of the Covid task force meeting, Fauci sends Deborah Birx this email alerting her about the need to oppose the GBD at the meeting. The unredacted part suggests they are preparing to attack @ScottWAtlas, who was perceived as the task force’s champion of the GBD.”
