WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY from Jeff Childers
Newsweek ran an op-ed yesterday by actual-expert Stanford Professor Jay Bhattacharya headlined, “It’s Time for Laws Limiting the Power of Public Health Institutions.”

'Using emergency power that most people never realized an American government possessed, public health violated Americans’ most fundamental civil rights in the name of infection control. We endured three years of useless and divisive policies, including lockdowns, church and business closures, zoom schools, mask mandates, and vaccine mandates and discrimination.'
Dr. Bhattacharya, a public health policy expert from before the pandemic, celebrated the passage of Florida’s new health-freedom law, SB 252, observing that the pandemic has changed his mind about the role of public health:

'Before the pandemic, I naively thought that a commitment to basic ethical principles constrained public health actions, and would therefore have opposed the Florida bill banning discrimination based on vaccination status. Now, I see the bill’s wisdom. I have learned not to trust public health authorities with expansive power anymore.'

Us too. The highly-credentialed Stanford professor also said that public health has a choice to make, a choice that will determine whether anyone ever trusts it again:

'Public health authorities face a choice that will decide whether the public will ever trust public health again. They can fight a partisan political battle against these laws, and the collapse of public trust in public health will continue apace. Or they can gracefully accept limits to their power in light of their pandemic failures.
If public health opts for the latter, rejects authoritarian power, and restores its commitment to basic ethical principles, it may regain the public’s trust so that it can creatively address the challenges to health that the American people now face.'

I was blessed with an opportunity to meet Dr. Bhattacharya (by phone and zoom) during the pandemic. He graciously provided — for free — affidavits for my anti-mandate cases, and volunteered to testify at my groundbreaking lawsuit against the very first government vaccine mandate in Florida. Dr. Bhattacharya is one of the smartest, and humblest, people I’ve ever met.

Do you think the Public Health Establishment will take Jay’s advice?