On COVID, we should heed science, but not follow it blindly

National Post, 29 January 2021

'Follow the science' is a slogan. It is not a repository of wisdom; rather it is the refuge of the philosophically confused.

Doubts have replaced deference. The first anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic has been marked with pointed criticism of public health and policy decisions.

The expert class, which has its role, has got a great deal very wrong, at great cost. It has tried the patience of the populace by countering honest queries by shouting ever louder “follow the science.” That is not a policy precept. It is a slogan. It is not a repository of wisdom; rather it is the refuge of the philosophically confused.

Practical, hard-nosed science types like to mock philosophers for debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. It’s laughable if you think the discussion is about choreography; it’s interesting if you understand that it is about metaphysics. But leave that aside, and behold Pfizer and Health Canada debate how much vaccine can be drawn by the head of a syringe.

I expect that the “follow the science” (FTS) slogan is quite popular at both Pfizer and Health Canada. So why do they disagree on whether there are five or six doses in a vial? After all, the European Medicines Agency already decided that there were six, not five.

Shouldn’t this be as straightforward an empirical question as there can be? Volume of vaccine per vial. Divide by volume of vaccine per dose. Result — five or six. FTS.

But it is not so simple as that. It is a matter of syringe type and technique to squeeze that sixth dose out. FTS assumes that there is pharmacology and physics and then off you go. But there is also the expertise of the vaccinator. Is technique a matter of art or science, of experience or simple instructions? Anyone who has tried to assemble furniture from IKEA knows the answer to that.

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