By Nate Doromal, Guest Contributor The metaphor of war has long been a part of public health. In responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s public health agencies mobilized and shut down entire parts of society under the utilitarian goal of stopping the spread of Covid-19 and disseminated the war mentality with the repeated message: We are at war with an invisible enemy that must be eradicated. War mentality emphasizes the need for self-sacrifice in order to stop Covid-19 spread. And the weapons of war are glorified; public health authorities glorify its chief weapon of vaccination. Like any war, there is collateral damage. The collateral damages here are the bedrocks of medical ethics, informed consent, human rights, civil liberties, and even science itself, but the ultimate collateral damage, of course, is among those damaged or injured by decisions resting on faulty science. | |