- Nafeez Ahmed: ..'Herd Immunity' was Promoted by PR Agency Tied to Ministry of Defence and Nudge Unit Archived Message
Posted by Sinister Burt
on April 2, 2020, 4:20 pm
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Apologies if posted before (it's about a week old). Some interesting details. https://bylinetimes.com/2020/03/26/the-coronavirus-crisis-oxford-model-touting-herd-immunity-was-promoted-by-pr-agency-tied-to-ministry-of-defence-and-nudge-unit/ "On 24 March, the Financial Times claimed that as much as half of the British population may have already been infected by the novel Coronavirus, according to a new model by Oxford University’s Evolutionary Ecology of Infectious Disease group. The conclusion, according to the FT’s science editor Clive Cookson, suggested that the country “had already acquired substantial herd immunity through the unrecognised spread of COVID-19 over more than two months”. If true, this would vindicate the Government’s “unofficial herd immunity strategy – allowing controlled spread of infection,” he stated. Although numerous epidemiologists and scientists had questioned the validity of the Oxford model – which had not been peer-reviewed – it was promoted to the press by a PR agency with ties to the Government, raising questions about how and why this model was published and disseminated at this time. The draft paper, which was originally posted to Dropbox, included a disclaimer noting that its content was “not final” and could be “updated any time”. The disclaimer also contained a contact point for journalists: “Contact for press enquiries: Cairbre Sugrue, cairbre@sugruecomms.com.” ../../../Desktop/Screenshot%202020-03-25%20at%2018.35.26.png Dr Lewis Mackenzie, a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Discovery Fellow, commented: “Why on earth has this been sent to the media via a third party PR company instead of the Oxford University press team? Seems very irresponsible to encourage reporting on this topic before the scientific community had a chance to comment and peer-review it.” When asked why its own press team did not release the study, Oxford University said: “All Oxford academics have freedom of expression regarding their areas of specialism, including communication through the media. It is therefore not uncommon for academics to make their own arrangements for contacting the press. The university cannot comment on individual arrangements that it is not party to.” Caibre Sugrue is the founding director of Sugrue Communications, a technology PR agency. He is also a non-executive advisory board member of 100%Open, an innovation consultancy – which has worked for several British Government agencies, including the UK Ministry of Defence’s Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and a leading charity which co-owns the Cabinet Office’s Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) or ‘nudge unit’. A leading Silicon Valley communications consultant, Sugrue cut his teeth working with firms such as Intel, Hewlett Packard, Oracle and Xerox. His firm, Sugrue Communications, led directly on the public relations delivery for 100%Open’s MoD DSTL contract. In September 2017, a press release was sent out by Sugrue Communications, and signed off by Caibre Sugrue, in relation to a DSTL Defence and Security Accelerator “to identify innovative approaches to the delivery mission-critical supplies to the British Army over short distances”." Ctd. |
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