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An open letter that made headlines calling for a herd immunity approach to Covid-19 lists several seemingly fake names among its expert signatories, including “Dr. Johnny Bananas” and “Professor Cominic Dummings.”
Sky News discovered that the Great Barrington statement, which was said to have been signed by more than 15,000 scientists and physicians around the world, contained numerous false names, as well as those of several homeopaths.
Others listed include a resident at “your mom’s university” and another supposed specialist whose name was the first verse of the Macarena.
Sky News discovered 18 self-proclaimed homeopaths on the expert name list and more than 100 therapists whose expertise included massage, hypnotherapy, and Mongolian Khoomii chanting.
The statement attracted widespread attention this week when it called for a relaxation of the lockdown measures, allowing most people to return to normal life while protecting the most vulnerable.
Individual scholars from the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Sussex and York were among the experts from around the world who signed the statement. However, the declaration website allows anyone to add their name to the list by providing an email address, city of residence, zip code, and name.
Signatories also inform the site if they are a public health and medical scientist, physician, or member of the general public, of whom nearly 160,000 claim to have signed.
It’s unclear how many of the names on the statement’s expert list are fake or when they appeared. However, many scientists have already criticized the conclusions of the letter.
Dr Michael Head, senior researcher in global health at the University of Southampton, said the statement was “a very bad idea” and doubted that vulnerable people could avoid the virus if it were allowed to spread.
“Ultimately, the Barrington Declaration is based on principles that are dangerous to national and global public health,” Head said.
Professor Jeremy Rossman of the University of Kent noted that research suggests that protective antibody responses could “decline rapidly” and that there have been cases of reinfection of the virus.
NHS England Executive Director Sir Simon Stevens has said that asking everyone over 65 to protect themselves to curb the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus would be “age-based apartheid”.
The statement has also been accused of ignoring long-standing growing evidence about Covid, according to which thousands of fit and young people who contract the virus are left with debilitating symptoms months after a mild infection.
The statement calls for an approach it describes as “targeted protection”, arguing that keeping the blockades in place until a vaccine is available “will cause irreparable harm, with the disadvantaged disproportionately harmed.”
