Rude awakening: Surgeon General probe on COVID-19 ‘misinformation’ gets unexpected reply

United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in March published a request for information (RFI) on the “impact of health misinformation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic”. The RFI is a probe to find dissenters who challenge the vaccine and promote cheap, effective treatments such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. 

But in a response earlier this month, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita replied with a letter that was likely not what Murthy expected.  

The letter, cosigned by Stanford University School of Medicine Prof. Jay Bhattacharya and Brownstone Institute’s Dr. Kulldorff, listed nine different ways the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fed the public misinformation about COVID-19. 

“We agree that misinformation has been a major problem during the pandemic,” the letter began after referencing Murthy’s original request. 

“As such, the disinformation has led to great harm in the lives and livelihoods of Americans. We submit the following examples of disinformation from the CDC and other health organizations that have shattered the public’s trust in science and public health and will take decades to repair,” added Rokita et al. 

The first way the CDC misinformed the public, according to the letter, was overcounting COVID-19 deaths. 

“The official tallies include many people who have died with rather than from COVID-19. CDC has not distinguished deaths where COVID-19 was the primary cause of death, where COVID-19 was a contributing cause of death, or where the death was entirely unrelated to COVID-19, but they incidentally tested positive.” 

Second, the CDC spread claims that vaccine-caused immunity is superior to natural immunity. 

“Using seriously flawed studies, CDC falsely claimed that natural immunity is worse than vaccine acquired immunity...Most critically, by mandating vaccination for people who have recovered from COVID-19, the government, corporations, and universities de facto deny natural immunity.” The letter went on to cite evidence of the superiority of natural immunity. 

Third, the CDC misled the public by promising that the vaccines prevent COVID-19 transmission, likely causing millions of people to vaccinate based on that debunked claim. 

“This was also the rationale for vaccine mandates and passports -- to prevent the spread of the virus to others. At the time, we did not know, and it turned out to be wrong....vaccinated individuals spread the disease to others,” the letter said, noting that the CDC’s randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies did not even attempt to study transmission. 

Fourth, the CDC promised that school closures were effective, keeping them closed long after science had already shown the claim to be false. 

“This decision was based on false claims that it would protect children, teachers, and the community at large. Already in the early summer of 2020, we knew this was false,” wrote the letter’s authors before citing 2020 data from Sweden showing that school closures were ineffective in preventing virus spread. 

The letter also observed that a 2020 study on school closures published in the New England Journal of Medicine did not even include the Swedish data, “which is like evaluating a new drug without including data from the placebo comparison group.” 

Fifth, the CDC led the public to believe that everyone is equally at risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 causing devastating lockdowns and school closures. 

“Though the risk of death is high for the old and some other vulnerable populations with severe chronic illness, the risk posed to children from COVID-19 infection is on par with the risk posed by a bad influenza season.” 

But according to a survey cited in the letter, both old and young overestimate their risks of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. 

“This misperception about risk is harmful because it leads to demand for policies – such as school closures and lockdowns – that were themselves harmful.” 

Sixth, the CDC claimed that there was no better alternative to lockdowns, even as tens of thousands of doctors signed the 2020 Great Barrington Declaration opposing lockdowns and offering concrete, feasible alternative solutions. 

But the CDC ignored them all, causing American citizens to be forced into lockdowns even as other countries like Sweden remained open with almost no excess deaths. 

“Lockdowns are an aberration– a sharp deviation from traditional public health management of respiratory epidemics – and a catastrophic failure of public health policy,” noted the letter. 

Seventh, the CDC continues to claim that masks are effective against COVID-19, despite evidence to the contrary. 

“It is thus unsurprising that the highest quality evidence available – randomized trials – conducted both before and during the pandemic find that masks are ineffective at stopping the spread of respiratory viruses in most settings when worn by untrained people.” 

Eighth, the CDC misinformed the public about the effectiveness of mass testing asymptomatic people and contact tracing. 

“Mass testing of asymptomatic individuals with contact tracing and quarantining of people who test positive has failed to substantively slow the progress of the epidemic and has imposed great costs on people who were quarantined even though they posed no risk of infecting others.” 

The letter also enumerated the heavy costs of quarantines. 

“At the same time, quarantining people is costly – for workers without adequate sick leave, absenteeism due to contact tracing means pay cuts, lost opportunities, and perhaps even an inability to feed families. 

“For children, it means more skipped lessons and missed opportunities for academic and social growth at school, with long-run negative consequences for their future prospects.” 

Lastly, the CDC misled the public by making “the eradication of COVID-19 a feasible goal”, from “two weeks to flatten the curve” and onwards. 

“However, SARS-CoV-2 has none of the characteristics of a disease that can be eradicated,” the letter reads, explaining how “even if it was eradicated from the human race, zoomatic transmission would guarantee that it would come back.” In addition, eradicating COVID-19 would require a global commitment from every country, even the developing ones for whom COVID-19 is not a pressing matter.