(LifeSiteNews) – A leading scientist is continuing his fight against governmental narratives that lockdowns were the best response to COVID-19.
Dr. Knut Wittkowski spoke with Jeffrey Tucker of the Brownstone Institute about the excessive damage he believes has been caused by lockdowns in the wake of the declared COVID pandemic.
Knut Wittkowski is the former head of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design at Rockefeller University’s Center for Clinical & Translational Science, as well as the founder and CEO of drug developer Asdera, LLC. Wittkowski spoke out early in 2020 about what he believed was flawed in the approach to dealing with the viral situation.
He posted a video to YouTube that was taken down after being viewed by millions, wherein he criticized how governments were reacting to the declared pandemic.
His position then as it is now is that there should have been no widespread measures put in place due to what his decades of experience have told him about the activity of viruses.
In 2020 Wittkowski said that the “only thing that stops the disease is herd immunity,” which he reiterated in his conversation with Jeffrey Tucker.
Tucker said: “Now, another thing I remember you said at the time was that this this attempt to flatten the curve could potentially just end up in prolonging the pain that that we had to experience.”
“This is not what could happen,” Wittkowski replied. “This is what happens by definition.”
“If you flatten the curve, you’re prolonging the period it takes until we have the only thing that stops the respiratory virus disease, and that is herd immunity… We have to wait for nature to take its course, so if you flatten the curve it takes more time, but there is no alternative…”
He added that herd immunity can be achieved by vaccines, but it is not advisable with an epidemic due to how long it would take to make an effective vaccine. Meanwhile, it takes no more than 6 weeks for an epidemic end, he explained.
In his opinion, by extending the length of time that a virus has to spread, you actually create the opportunity for their to be multiple waves of illness that would not have happened otherwise.
“The typical epidemic… is over in six weeks, let’s say,” he said. ‘And that six weeks is not enough time for the virus to become resistant [to immunity].”
Wittkowski added that a virus can mutate after a period of about three months into something that is experienced as novel to the host, which can make it harder for people to resist serious illness.
“To get rid of a respiratory virus disease epidemic that is naturally spreading, if we’re flattening the curve, we’re prolonging the spread, we’re getting into a state that nature had not anticipated… We are responsible for what’s happening… one wave after the other…. This is standard epidemiological knowledge.”
Tucker questioned the epidemiologist on how he would respond to the idea that the hospitals would have been overwhelmed if the conventional approach of acquiring herd immunity had been taken.
Wittkowski said that in the case of New York, for example, weeks had already passed of viral spread in the city, so starting lockdowns during that spread was useless, and just prolonged illness thereafter. He also commented on how the use of Italy as an example was irresponsible, given its very aged population and the fact that the health care system in that country is constantly overloaded due to mismanagement.
Wittkowski applauded Donald Trump’s desire to have the nation opened by Easter 2020.
“That was actually what should have happened,” he said.
“The epidemic would have taken a much different course. …Only maybe 10 per cent of people who actually died so far would have died if the lockdowns had ended.”
The scientist said that it is dangerous for any mitigation to continue whatsoever, as it delays a full and long lasting immunity. He finished the interview by making analogy between a virus and a tide from the ocean. “A virus epidemic is like a tide: it’s coming and we can direct a bit… Can we stop the tide? No. The same applies to virus diseases. Yes, we can protect the vulnerable people… but we cannot stem the epidemic. This is as impossible as it is to stem the tide.”