Cochrane Finally Confirms its Mask Review Will Not Be Changed, But the Damage Has Been Done

In March 2023, Cochrane stated it was engaging with the authors of the Cochrane Review on ‘Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses’ of which my colleague Tom Jefferson is lead author.

Under pressure from a New York Times social media influencer, Cochrane’s Editor-in-Chief (EIC) posted a communiqué undermining the review and its findings.

Cochrane has now published a communiqué that overturns this statement.

In the midst of the Covid panic, some lost their heads. Cochrane leaders have now recanted their statement undermining their own review that they approved and has mega access figures. However, the damage has been done.

The confusion led to the then-CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky misleading Congress, giving false testimony to the U.S. Congress that the review had been retracted. This forced Congressional staff to correct the record of the hearing.

The communiqué opened the door to many of the names in the list of zero-Coviders to attack the review and distort reality.

The original communiqué now contains the following update.

Learning from this lesson is vital if we are to make improvements in how research is published and interpreted.

Dr. Carl Heneghan is the Oxford Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine. This article was first published on his Substack, Trust The Evidence, which you can subscribe to here.