SCOOP: John Ioannidis& #39;s studies say COVID isn’t a big threat, infuriating critics who say they have fundamental errors.

In March, before he had any data, he rounded up a group of scientists to try to meet with President Trump — to warn against shutdowns. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemlee/ioannidis-trump-white-house-coronavirus-lockdowns">https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/s...

By late March, COVID had killed thousands. Many experts urged the US to shut down.

But Ioannidis wanted to warn Trump against “shutting down the country for very long time and jeopardizing so many lives in doing this.”

His ideas were “scientifically untenable,” @mlipsitch says.

The meeting didn’t happen. But around the time Ioannidis requested it, Trump called to reopen by Easter.

“I think our ideas have inflitrated [sic] the White House regardless,” he wrote in a March 28 email I obtained — along with dozens of others. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemlee/ioannidis-trump-white-house-coronavirus-lockdowns">https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/s...

Ioannidis& #39;s recruits:

-Jay Bhattacharya (Stanford)
-Michael Levitt (Stanford)
-David Katz (True Health Initiative)
-Jeff Klausner (UCLA)
-James Fowler (UCSD)

And two who told me they did NOT agree w/the rest re: lockdowns:
-Sten Vermund (Yale)
-Art Reingold (Berkeley)

Ioannidis went on to show in studies that COVID wasn’t risky for most people. You may recall THE antibody study.

In May, when I reported the JetBlue founder had funded that study, Ioannidis claimed to not know who his funders were.

So I found this March email interesting...

...and there& #39;s much, much more. Here’s the link again. Thanks for reading along.

(And if you have tips about anything you think I should know, as always, my contact info is in my bio.) https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemlee/ioannidis-trump-white-house-coronavirus-lockdowns">https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/s...