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White House embraces Covid-19 herd immunity declaration from fake scientists, experts say 'this is mass murder'

White House embraced the document that had apparently fake names among its signatories, including 'Dr. Johnny Bananas,' 'Dr. I.P. Freely,' and 'Dr. Person Fakename'

Top health experts have condemned the decision by the White House to embrace a declaration made by a 'group of scientists' in favor of "herd immunity." The declaration which was reportedly signed by a number of fake experts stated that authorities should allow the coronavirus to spread among young healthy people while laying down precautions in place to protect the elderly and the vulnerable.

“Herd immunity” is essentially the point at which a disease stops spreading because almost everyone in a population has contracted it. About 85 to 90 percent of the American population is still susceptible to the coronavirus, leading experts have concluded, which means that "herd immunity" is still far-off. Two senior Trump administration officials who spoke to the New York Times cited an October 4 petition titled 'The Great Barrington Declaration', which argued against lockdowns and called for a reopening of businesses and schools.

“Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health,” the declaration stated, adding, “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.”

Although the declaration, according to its website, had more than 9,000 signatories from all over the world, most of the names are not public. The document was created after the American Institute for Economic Research hosted a meeting. White House embraced the document days after the validity of the declaration came under question due to a number of apparently fake names among its expert signatories, including “Dr. Johnny Bananas," "Dr. I.P. Freely," and "Dr. Person Fakename."

After White House embraced the document, a number of genuine health experts spoke out against the Trump administration's decision to do so. Nadine Vanessa Dorries, a British politician serving as Minister for Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Patient Safety since 2019, said on Twitter, "If herd immunity existed, measles and chicken pox would have been wiped out years ago. There is no such thing as herd immunity."

"Herd immunity is another word for mass murder. If you allow this virus to spread, as they are advocating, we are looking at 2-6 million Americans dead. Not just this year, but every year," William Haseltine, scientist and founder of ACCESS Health Int'l said on CNN, when asked about White House's decision to embrace "herd immunity." Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at Columbia University, said, "The White House is reportedly embracing a herd-immunity approach focused on “protecting the elderly and the vulnerable” just a few weeks after it failed to protect a 74-year-old with multiple comorbidities."

Epidemiologist and health economist Eric Feigl-Ding tweeted, "WE NEED TO STOP HERD IMMUNITY NONSENSE. 'Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak,' @DrTedros told reporters on Monday. 'It’s scientifically and ethically problematic.' #COVID19". Health Policy and Economics professor at Yale School of Medicine, Howard Forman, tweeted, "Treating herd immunity as an option is ridiculous because it violates principles of biomedical ethics. Could we REALLY tolerate 1.2 million deaths in a short period of time; MILLIONS more with unknown complications?"