We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
Speaking in a personal capacity, Professor Thomas House, who sits on the Government’s SPI-M modelling team, said scientific rows over pandemic policies have become “the most toxic they have ever been” and called for “genuine compromise” between those with opposing views.
Professor House said: “I am fed up with the attitude of some scientists who polarise this debate and do not allow for discourse.”
His comments come as a new study suggests those who claim to be “following the science” may simply be discounting evidence that runs counter to their beliefs.
The paper found most of the research into the management of Covid has taken one of two approaches ‑ mathematical modelling or analysis of real-world evidence.
To date, the modelling approach has been preferred by policy makers, with proponents of the evidence-based approach being “dismissed, mocked and even shunned”, the researchers found.
Co-author Dr Gerry Quinn, an immunologist at the University of Ulster, says the two sides should work together.
The study ‑ A Tale Of Two Scientific Paradigms: Conflicting Scientific Opinions On What Following The Science Means For SARS-CoV-2 And The Covid-19 Pandemic ‑ is based on data from 30 countries.
The researchers analysed the same data using both approaches and were surprised to find they got remarkably different results.
The modelling-based approach justified many measures the Government has implemented during the pandemic, while the evidence-based approach suggested many of these measures have been largely ineffective and even counterproductive.
Dr Ronan Connolly, a scientific modeller and co-author of the study, said: “This was a worrying finding since analysing the same data with different scientific approaches should give broadly similar answers.”
The authors warned: “This means anyone who thinks they are ‘following the science’ on Covid-19 is probably only following one part of the science and dismissing the rest.”
Source: Read Full Article