The death of "informed consent"?
Former NIH director Francis Collins, in an apparently leaked audio
The Dailywire is reporting about a leaked audio of former NIH director Francis Collins, who is currently Biden’s science advisor. The article is paywalled, and I have not been able to listen to the audio (beyond the fact that I do not know whether it was legally and/or morally recorded), but breitbart.com reports it with the following choice quotes:
“Do [mandates] convince people who otherwise wouldn’t get them? … Oh yeah, especially if it means losing your job.”
‘Collins recalled … telling [employees] they were “in serious danger of being fired in the next month if they [didn’t] do something about it.”' ‘
“Reality [was] sinking in … their resistance was not maybe quite that deeply seated.”
Again, I don’t know whether the quotes are accurate or described in their proper context … but, if they are, they display a wanton and unethical attempt to coerce healthy and legally competent Americans into a medical intervention, in contravention of the most fundamental bioethical principles of “informed consent”.
I do not see how anyone can comfortable participate in human subject research if Collins’s presumed position is (i) being protrayed correctly and (ii) not publicly repudiated.
P.S. I used to be a fan of Collins. He has been well-respected in the medical community and wrote influential books. However, his behavior during the COVID pandemic (beyond this bit of gossip) has, in my mind, marred his career and will, ultimately, be the legacy by which he is remembered.