The Narrative in Retreat
The Narrative in Retreat BY RAMESH THAKUR The Lockdown Files have dished up a curious exchange among Britain’s top policy advisers in early 2020. On February 29th, responding to a WhatsApp message from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Chief Adviser Dominic Cummings that Israeli scientists were just weeks away from developing a Covid vaccine and if this was credible, Chief Scientist Sir Patrick Vallance replied “Short answer is no”. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty explained: “For a disease with a low (for the sake of argument 1%) mortality a vaccine has to be very safe so the safety studies can’t be shortcut. So important for the long run.” England’s highest mortality rate was in April 2020 at 0.6%, falling to 0.55% in January 2021 and 0.04% by January 2023. Based on the original Phase 3 trial data, Bart Classen showed as early as August 2021: “Results prove that none of the vaccines provide a health benefit and all pivotal trials show a statically significant increase in