Covid Ruined Public Healths Reputation. Via Hayek it must acknowledge the “Fatal Conceit” of Experts

Byron Carson - Assistant Economics Prof, Hamden-Sidney College

Since authorization last October by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of Covid shots for kids aged 6-10, the Los Angeles Times reported only 25% of parents had subjected their kids to what remains an experimental jab. The Epoch Times reported moms are losing trust in other vaccines as well.

Biden’s pollster warned Democrats early in 2022 that if they didn’t back off the Covid mandates they’d get crushed this November. The warning said voters would punish them even if they backed off - if they felt Democrats might revive controls later.

The news keeps getting worse for Public Health cheerleaders. This month the General Accountability Office exposed the lack of safeguards at our medical bureaucracies against political interference and whistleblower protections. What possibly can restore the reputation of Public Health - and the government’s use of it to counter health scares?

Professor Carson has written about this Public Health collapse. Teaching the economics of health and epidemiology, he brings a unique perspective via his doctorate from George Mason University. There students learn about Hayek’s “Fatal Conceit” - the hubristic idea that a gang of experts (such as Fauci and Pharma-approved narrative talkers allowed in the media) can out plan the market.

In the market, frontline doctors were practicing the “ART” of medicine, experimenting with drugs that weren’t FDA-approved for the disease - and performing better than Public Health-approved countermeasures. Patients also are responding better - in all health episodes - to individualized treatments.

So if Republicans take control of Congress next year, how should they rebuild Public Health that respects the ART of medicine, the danger of politicized expertise, and the differences among individual preferences?