White House taskforce member dubbed the ‘anti-Fauci’ pushing controversial ‘herd immunity’ strategy

A doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions relating to the brain is suggesting to Donald Trump that he adopt the controversial theory of ‘herd immunity’, according to reports. 

Scott Atlas was announced as the newest member of the White House coronavirus task force on August 12, and has been dubbed by White House officials the ‘anti Fauci’ because his opinions are frequently at odds with veteran infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci.

Atlas, 65, is a radiologist, a senior fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution of Stanford University and a frequent Fox News commentator. 

He previously served as chief of neuroradiology – radiology of the brain and nervous system – at the Stanford University Medical Center.

He has also advised Republican presidential candidates on health care, including Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer. 

On Monday five sources told The Washington Post that Atlas, who has no training in epidemiology or virology, was promoting the idea of ‘herd immunity’. 

The idea, which Sweden has adopted, is that there should be no widespread lockdown, but vulnerable populations should be strongly protected.

Sweden has been extremely hard-hit by the virus, with among the highest death rates per population.

In Sweden, according to the latest data from John Hopkins University, 57.16 people per 100,000 have died from COVID-19; ranking Sweden above the U.S., with 55.95.

That puts Sweden 10th worst in the world in terms of deaths per 100,000; Brazil, Italy, Spain and the UK are also among the worst.

Sweden has 84,379 cases – neighboring Norway has had 10,782, Denmark has 17,410, and Finland has had 8,086.   

Health experts inside and outside the White House are expressing alarm at the idea that the United States could adopt Sweden’s herd immunity approach.

‘The administration faces some pretty serious hurdles in making this argument,’ said Paul Romer, a professor at New York University who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2018. 

He told The Washington Post: ‘One is a lot of people will die, even if you can protect people in nursing homes. Once it’s out in the community, we’ve seen over and over again, it ends up spreading everywhere.’ 

Infectious disease experts have said it is wrong to believe that young people cannot be affected, pointing out that more than 25,000 people younger than 65 have died of the virus in the United States. 

Furthermore, young people can easily spread the virus to vulnerable people of all ages, in a country already struggling with high rates of heart and lung disease and obesity. 

Trump has not explicitly mentioned herd immunity, but appears open to the idea.

‘We are aggressively sheltering those at highest risk, especially the elderly, while allowing lower-risk Americans to safely return to work and to school, and we want to see so many of those great states be open,’ he said during his speech to the Republican National Convention on Thursday night. 

‘We want them to be open. They have to be open. They have to get back to work.’ 

Atlas denied the paper’s report.

‘There is no policy of the President or this administration of achieving herd immunity,’ he said. 

‘There never has been any such policy recommended to the President or to anyone else from me.’