On Wednesday’s broadcast of NBC’s “Top Story,” host Tom Llamas said that during the coronavirus pandemic, some scientists decided “to stop investigating, stop researching, stop even thinking outside the bubble” and that people who had “pretty impeccable” credentials like Stanford Professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya were “slammed, and in some cases…told not to speak at all” even by the government.
While interviewing Bhattacharya, Llamas said, “I want to make sure our viewers know that you have legitimate credentials, because throughout this pandemic and throughout the coverage of the pandemic, at times, doctors like you who have spoken out, who have sort of gone against the grain have been slammed, and in some cases, have been told not to speak at all. Tell me if I get anything wrong here, you have an economics PhD from Stanford University, an MD from Stanford University, you’ve been a research associate, you’ve been the Director [of the Center on the Demography of Health and Aging] at Stanford, you’re a professor, you’ve been a senior fellow. Essentially, the point I’m trying to make here is that your credentials are pretty impeccable. Is that fair to say?”
Bhattacharya responded that people can judge his credentials for themselves.
Llamas then read a statement from Bhattacharya that accused public health bureaucrats of acting “more like dictators than scientists during the pandemic” and organizing “a coverup of the hypothesis that COVID emerged as a result of a laboratory leak” and reacted, “very tough talk there, but in a lot of ways, a lot of that is true.”
Llamas then asked Bhattacharya, “What happened with science during the pandemic? Why did scientists — at least some scientists decide to stop investigating, stop researching, stop even thinking outside the bubble? Aren’t scientists trained to do that?”
After Bhattacharya brought up the Great Barrington Declaration and how then-NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins reacted to it by calling Bhattacharya a “fringe” doctor, Llamas asked, “You were called a fringe doctor, with the pedigree that we just mentioned…with all the work you’ve put in throughout your career. What did that feel like?” Bhattacharya responded that Collins abused his power.
Later, Llamas asked Bhattacharya if he can understand that — not that it justifies everything that happened — the pandemic was a difficult time. Bhattacharya replied that he understands the early days of the pandemic were difficult, but difficult times like that are when you should have scientific inquiry and engagement.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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