COVID-19 was not dangerous enough to justify cutting short vaccine trials as the vaccine had to be "very safe", Chris Whitty advised the Government in the early weeks of the outbreak, it has emerged.
Imperial College London scared the world into locking down with death projections based on fatality estimates that the latest data suggest are up to 20 times higher than the reality.
COVID-19 is much less deadly in the non-elderly population than previously thought, a major new study of antibody prevalence surveys by Professor John Ioannidis has concluded.
The IFR of COVID-19 is now 0.0333%, according to a new analysis by Professor Carl Heneghan and Dr Jason Oke. About the same as seasonal flu, in other words. So no need for any more restrictions.
According to Mikko Paunio, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Helsinki and an advisor to the Finnish Government, the IFR of Omicron is 0.04%, half that of seasonal flu.
How deadly is COVID-19? Last year Prof John Ioannidis published an analysis of antibody studies which concluded the IFR was around 0.15% globally. Now he's brought out an update – and the IFR has gone down.
Analysis of official data by Professor Anthony Brookes, an expert in health data at the University of Leicester, has shown that the risk of death from Covid for over-70s has decreased by tenfold compared to a year ago.
If the vaccines are highly effective against serious disease and death, why are the hospitalisation and death rates in Israel no better now than in 2020?
Why have the British people overwhelmingly backed the lockdowns? One possible reason is that they overestimate the risks of COVID-19, especially the risks to young people.
Sweden's Professor Johan Giesecke was back talking with Freddie Sayers yesterday, one year on. One of the first major figures to oppose lockdowns, he is unbowed: "I think I got most things right, actually."
