The statement
“Observing the operations of this evolutionary phenomenon [of herd immunity] is pretty wonderful because it increases one’s respect for the way in which human biology has adapted to the presence of pathogens without absolutely freaking out.
And the discovery of this fascinating dynamic in cell biology is a major reason why public health became so smart in the 20th century. We kept calm. We managed viruses with medical professionals: doctor/patient relationships. We avoided the Medieval tendency to run around with hair on fire but rather used rationality and intelligence. Even the New York Times recognizes that natural immunity is powerful with Covid-19, which is not in the least bit surprising.
Until one day, this strange institution called the World Health Organization – once glorious because it was mainly responsible for the eradication of smallpox – has suddenly decided to delete everything I just wrote from cell biology basics. It has literally changed the science in a Soviet-like way. It has removed with the delete key any mention of natural immunities from its website. It has taken the additional step of actually mischaracterizing the structure and functioning of vaccines.”
……
Take from this what you will. It is a sign of the times. For nearly a full year, the media has been telling us that “science” requires that we comply with their dictates that run contrary to every tenet of liberalism, every expectation we’ve developed in the modern world that we can live freely and with the certainty of rights. Then “science” took over and our human rights were slammed. And now the “science” is actually deleting its own history, airbrushing over what it used to know and replacing it with something misleading at best and patently false at worst.
I cannot say why, exactly, the WHO did this. Given the events of the past nine or ten months, however, it is reasonable to assume that politics are at play. Since the beginning of the pandemic, those who have been pushing lockdowns and hysteria over the coronavirus have resisted the idea of natural herd immunity, instead insisting that we must live in lockdown until a vaccine is developed.
That is why the Great Barrington Declaration, written by three of the world’s preeminent epidemiologists and which advocated embracing the phenomenon of herd immunity as a way of protecting the vulnerable and minimizing harms to society, was met with such venom. Now we see the WHO, too, succumbing to political pressure. This is the only rational explanation for changing the definition of herd immunity that has existed for the past century.
The science has not changed; only the politics have. And that is precisely why it is so dangerous and deadly to subject virus management to the forces of politics. Eventually the science too bends to the duplicitous character of the political industry.”
The source
Jeffrey A. Tucker, Editorial Director for the American Institute for Economic Research, 3 December 2020 (https://www.aier.org/article/who-deletes-naturally-acquired-immunity-from-its-website/ )
My take on it
This is a very sad day.
It is sad because of the deceit itself. It is egregious because of the significance of that deceit.
That said, it is unsurprising, because the prevailing narrative is unsustainable so long as natural immunity is given its due. Which of course is why it has generally been ‘missing in action’ when biocrats control the mike; and attracts such venom (to use Tucker’s words) whenever it is aired.
As I have said earlier, we get to pick our experts. And on this topic, one might well apply the WHO script as a test of said expertise. The subject matter experts in whom I place my trust, such as the proponents of the Great Barrington Declaration, would be appalled at this misrepresentation of science by the WHO.
Tucker speaks of the WHO ‘succumbing’ to political pressure. The evidence would rather suggest to me that the WHO has been an instrument of that pressure, long since.