What comes across more as a hit piece, to join the shrill chorus of mainstream media, rather than journalism, the recent Cochrane Eagle article (Government’s COVID report called biased, with little scientific backing: Alberta doctor) sought the opinion of a local retired Cochrane doctor, Dr. Dennis Fundytus, to offer his scientific expertise to settle the matter as to the validity of the content of the Covid Report prepared by a task force chaired by Dr. Gary Davidson, a former chief of emergency medicine at Red Deer Hospital.
In Dr. Fundytus’ view, the report was “very biased” and lacked little scientific backing. Without specifically showing how the report was biased or lacks scientific backing, simply saying so, is nothing more than expressing an unsubstantiated opinion. The truth is that to simply shut down a report by screaming that it is “anti-science” is in itself anti-science as science allows for vigorous exchanges on a scientific topic. Galileo Galilei, who had suffered his own experience with those who wanted to shut down debate and positions they did not like, observed, “In questions of science the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual”.
Laughable the attempted dismissal of one of the panellists of the report, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, for having “well-known political ties” given that he was nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump to run the National Institute of Health. Would he be acceptable and have no political ties if he was nominated to a high position, for example, by former Democrat President Joe Biden or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, along with Dr. Sunetra Gupta of the University of Oxford and Dr. Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University, Dr. Bhattacharya co-authored the “Great Barrington Declaration", a document which criticized the harmful lockdown policies, especially for children.
When it comes to scientific prowess, Dr. Bhattacharya, a Professor of Health Policy at the prestigious Stanford School of Medicine has 390 publications in the health field under his belt. How many does Dr. Fundytus have?
As far as Shaun Fluker, who ran under the NDP banner in Airdrie-Cochrane in the last provincial election, lending his critical voice to that of Dr. Fundytus, I like to say, ‘birds of a feather flock together’.
Disappointing that it was crickets from our UCP MLA, Peter Guthrie.
Ron Voss
Cochrane, AB
