Dr. Francis Collins, former chairman of the National Institutes of Health, reprised his mocked musical work for a second time to song Yale School of Medicine graduates, reciting a type of Simon and Garfunkel’s” Noise of Quietness” with pandemic- themed songs. The act further codified the lack of sincerity and responsibility that public health officials have expressed while toying with the British public through false and false Covid- 19 policy decisions, despite the laughs from the crowd.  ,
While these appointed plan officials continue to operate impunity, one way to keep folks like Collins responsibility is by putting” clawback” clauses in employment contracts. By definition, the clauses are” a legal provision whereby money now paid to an employee may be returned to an employer or benefactor, often with a penalty, ]due to ] misconduct, scandals, bad performance, or a drop in company profits”. After the 2008 financial crisis, private firms, particularly businesses, included clawbacks in job contracts for top executives to support “restore the confidence and faith of investors and the public.” We must implement a , similar structures in the post-Covid-19 era to hold public officials accountable for the harm their actions caused.  ,
The American public learned this month that Collins finally admitted in a congressional testimony that there was no scientific evidence and data to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s six-foot social-distance guideline thanks to the unrelenting efforts of , the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Collins ‘ admission came a few months after Anthony Fauci, his former NIH pal, testified before the same House subcommittee that the six-foot social-distance rule” sort of just appeared” without any scientific support. Plenty has been written about Fauci’s disgraceful role during the Covid- 19 pandemic ( see here, here, and here ). However, not enough spotlight was shone on Collins until recently.  ,
Dr. Vinay Prasad is a professor in the University of California, San Francisco’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He has been an outspoken critic of the U. S. government’s Covid- 19 response early on. Prasad shared a recent video on his YouTube channel with the reminder that Collins ‘ first music video, which features him singing and playing the guitar to” Puff, the Magic Dragon,” includes the words” No one can travel or leave their homes, schools are closed, and all kids must know to avoid the danger zones.” We all have to do our part to safeguard the people we care about. So if you meet at least six feet, handle doors with gloves”.
In the music video for Collins, Diane Baker, who played the red dragon, avoided Collins by keeping a six-foot social distance. The ruling class always exempts itself from the horrendous and ridiculous rules they demanded the public adhere to, which was a profound lesson the public learned from the pandemic.  ,
Collins ‘ video is still on the NIH’s YouTube channel. Prasad commented about it incredulously,” This is what the NIH director was doing. When he was at the forefront of policies that would affect the generation in unprecedented ways, he was busy writing a godd-mn stupid song” to promote the disinformation of the six-foot social-distancing rule instead of examining the evidence and engaging in dialogue. The American public ought to be just as revolted as Prasad.  ,
Collins joined Fauci to stifle scientific debates about the government’s Covid-19 measures and the lab-leak theory of Covid origin, besides amplifying his musical passion during the coronavirus panic. Three prominent scientists, Harvard’s Martin Kulldorff, Oxford’s Sunetra Gupta, and Stanford’s Jay Bhattacharya released the Great Barrington Declaration, calling for governments to implement “focused protection” of the high- risk population rather than continuing the widespread lockdowns. Collins demanded” a quick and devastating published takedown” by referring to the three coauthors as “fringe scientists.”
Even in 2021, when the harm of blanket lockdowns and school closures became indisputable, Collins refused to apologize for his policy failures. Instead, he continued to spread the misinformation that “hundreds of thousands of people would have died if we had followed that strategy ]focused protection ]”. He omitted to mention how many Americans perished during the lockdowns.  ,
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky was another senior public health official who continued to support the social-distancing rule despite the lack of supporting evidence. In early 2021, Prasad co- authored and published an op- ed “pointing out that the six- foot , distance had no scientific basis and would keep kids out of school for six , more months”.
Fauci forwarded Walensky’s op-ed to him in February 2021 according to recently discovered emails that were sent via email. Without heeding Prasad’s research, Walensky’s CDC continued to enforce the social distancing rule and collaborated with teachers ‘ unions to establish rules for when and how schools should reopen. The CDC let politics, not science, drive public health policies. Its guidelines prolonged school closure, resulting in widespread learning loss among American children, with some potentially , suffering long- term economic losses in the future.  ,
However, Fauci, Collins, and Walensky do not have to worry about themselves suffering any economic loss. Collins made nearly$ 200, 000 a year as the NIH director before quitting in 2021. Fauci, who earned almost half a million dollars annually, was the highest-paid federal government employee at the NIH. At the end of 2022, he retired. It is reasonable to assume that American taxpayers have contributed to Collins and Fauci’s sizable pensions. Walensky, who is the CDC director, probably earned around$ 200, 000 annually. She resigned in 2023 and joined the Doris Duke Foundation board of trustees in a clumsy capacity. Rest assured Walensky is n’t in a poor house either.  ,
These three senior public health officials promoted Covid measures supported by scant scientific evidence that severely damaged the American economy and the citizens of America. They also leveraged their powerful positions to spread misinformation and silence scientific debates, eroded public trust in science and public health, and did so. We may not be able to hold them accountable. However, we must demand that senior public officials ‘ employment contracts include a clawback clause in order to restore public faith and trust in science and public health.
To make up for their errors, those officials who lie to the American people and whose policies adversely affect American society must return at least a portion of their wages or retirement benefits that were paid by the taxpayers. The taxpayers ‘ only insurance policy is the clawback clause to make sure that the political ruling class , and the general public are” all in it together when the next national crisis occurs.”
