[natvert]

This is bad. This is bad for COVID and bad for scientific integrity as a whole.

There needs to be a public response by scientists decrying the bad behavior here. It's the least we can do to try to slow the general public's loss of faith in experts.

[jfengel]

There will be, but it's not going to help. They were trying to deal with the fact that they knew they would be misinterpreted and deliberately misunderstood. That is something that didn't change.

Scientific outcry won't change that fact that this will be cited, forever, to undermine anything said by any scientist about COVID. Spreaders of misinformation don't care about overall scientific opinion. These scientists are called on to repent when they make a mistake, but the lairs aren't. They just move on to their next lie, with no repercussions.

Public health experts are required to manage people's perceptions, and their actions. If people were capable of evaluating and acting on scientific evidence themselves, we wouldn't need them. They're in an impossible position, and you'll get their mea culpas if you want them... but it won't fix anything.