Unifying the Epidemiological and Evolutionary Dynamics of Pathogens

https://www.geertvandenbossche.org/post/commenting-paper-unifying-the-epidemiological-and-evolutionary-dynamics-of-pathogens Commenting paper "Unifying the Epidemiological and Evolutionary Dynamics of Pathogens"

 If you read this paper (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/303/5656/327.long), you’ll find that back in 2004(!) scientists had already provided key insights into how a pandemic/ epidemic can evolve, including the type of pandemic we’re currently facing. For your convenience, I’ve extracted some key take-home citations from this publication. 

Is this how we learn from peer-reviewed publications (?): Advising experts don’t lend credibility to scientific insights unless they’re published in peer-reviewed journals. But once published, they don’t seem to learn from those anyway. So, why would we re-invent the wheel to merely find out that those who’re insisting on peer review prefer to ignore ‘inconvenient’ science, even though published? The lady who kindly sent me the link is neither an expert in vaccinology, nor immunology nor virology. 

So, if she thought this paper to be relevant to the current pandemic, why don’t advising experts think likewise? Given the impact of the derailed pandemic on human lives and health, it’s time we teach the broader public because this is truly about their lives and health. That’s why we, independent scientists, first and foremost have a moral obligation to educate them on these matters. Peers pick it up anyway. 

But the other way around, the public is simply left with some mainstream narratives, light years away from the true science. Even though they may not understand the details of the science, the public may at least wonder why the solution to this complex problem is taught (not thought!) to be as simple as to intensify the mass vax campaigns.