Ladopo’s vaccine recommendations were fraudulent

I agree normatively. Just don't see it happening legally or politically

 

Exactly. Well said. And Bachtyharra (sp?) Is still whining and claiming censorship that the proposals were not accepted on equal terms

 

The interesting thing is he was on the UCLA faculty and had some modest research grants. So he is minimally qualified. But he saw a grift opportunity that he could make a quick buck standing up there with credentials and spouting off political talking points that could not be supported empirically, giving a patina of medical credibility to economic interests that weren't interested in public health practices.

In fairness, all of the Hoover Institute did the same, with the same gusto they did vouching for Elizabeth Holmes' transformative technology that would change bloodwork. They peddled out economists with MDs whose research was all in cost-benefit calculations.

Such calculations are not necessarily illegitimate; it happened all over to an extent. But Hoover took the extreme, and didn't care about paying a risk premium to front line employees. They thought it was a value to society to take the risk , so long as they weren't the ones at risk and those that were at risk were not paid accordingly.

 

In fairness, his predecessor took the job seriously and gave straight advice, which is why he was replaced. There are reasons to have a chief state medical officer, but not in this political environment

 

No doubt we have the expertise somewhere on the state payroll, but if you're talking about a forward facing public communications position, that also coordinates and distills the medical advice from below to present to the decision-makers, you need that person. That's how it's supposed to work, in theory.

You have plenty of experts below but someone who understands them well enough to help coordinate the efforts, assign the correct skill set to figure it out, and then presents in executive summary, and can announces with the Governor and take questions from the press, to increase public confidence.

That's the governance model.

 

Why do you need a National Security Advisor (communications position)? Why do you need a federal SG?

It's a theory of governance

 

They do - just by a different name. CMOs. A bit different but many of the same principles.

Before SBF made him make a fool out of himself, Michael Lewis wrote about Charity Dean. There's more at the link, but here's 4 paragraphs

Lewis, also author of Liar's Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side and The Big Short, says a public health doctor in California named Charity Dean is one of the people who saw the real danger of the virus before the rest of the country did.

"No one should have to be as brave as Charity Dean was as a local public health officer. To do her job, she had to be brave in a way that brought tears to my eyes," Lewis tell NPR. "And when I first met her, I realized I had a character because all over her house were like these Post-it notes reminding her to be brave, like ... 'courage is a muscle memory' or 'the tallest oak in the forest was once just a little nut.' She had all these kind of inspirational things. And when you get into the story of what Charity Dean ... had to do on the ground, your hair stands up on the back of your neck."

Lewis writes about how Dean tried and tried to get the state officials around her to look at the data and act to make sure the virus didn't spread. She put it all on the line, her reputation, her job. And across the country, there was another group of doctors led by Carter Mescher trying to do the same thing at the federal level.

"It was incredible to me that there was this kind of secret group of seven doctors — they called themselves the Wolverines — who were positioned in interesting places in and around the federal government, who had been together for the better part of 15 years and who had come together whenever there was a threat of a disease outbreak to help organize the country's response," Lewis says.