Dr. Scott Atlas clarifies position on Covid culprits
“Destructive, lethal policies“ deserve “public reprimands” and “humiliation“ but appear “inept” rather than intended to harm, he implies (Updated 6/2/25)
Scott Atlas MD, Special Advisor to President Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force in 2020, messaged me on X:
Scott Atlas here.
I never said “let's forgive” the lockdowners, just for the record.
Me:
Hi Scott, thank you for your message.
I’ll be happy to publish a [correction] on my Substack if you’d clarify your position.
I was referring to your statement to a congressional committee [at the November 2022 House Freedom Caucus roundtable]:
“If Congress — in my opinion as a citizen here — spends a lot of time punishing individual people, I just don't see how that is a sort of unifying theme on the way to move forward.
“I think yes, there has to be recognition that heinous errors were made.
“And so I'm not sure that punishing individuals … I'm not sure that sort of a vindictive search to punish individuals is gonna be productive.”
Thank you for being perhaps the only voice of reason in the White House Covid Task Force during Trump’s first term.
James
Whitewash crew says sing Kumbaya, don’t blame anyone for Covid kill operation
Since 2020, Drs. Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, and Scott Atlas have benefited America by opposing lockdowns and mask mandates while recommending early Covid treatment and selective protection of the vulnerable during pandemics.
Scott Atlas MD:
Hi and thanks.
So, yes I said that, and I still think it wouldn't be worth putting people like Fauci and Birx and Redfield in jail, or governors for their lockdowns, etc.
(I wasn't talking at all about perjury, or funding research with taxpayer NIH money in China when it was banned in the US - that's separate and criminal.)
My point was that going after Fauci, etc., would be worse for the citizenry, more hate inspiring, more divisive.
However that does not equate with what you said: "forgiving.”
I am for full public reprimands and official formal statements (with the humiliation of it), blaming them and correcting the record.
Why?
Because they have gotten away with such shockingly inept, destructive, lethal policies, and the public who was harmed needs closure; we also need them to be humiliated so it never happens again; we also need to have a truth-based society.
If not, then our country is finished, in my opinion.
Me:
Thank you so much for the clarification, Scott. I’ll publish it.
Also, I don’t think I suggested you (or Martin Kulldorff or Jay Bhattacharya) said to forgive them, but rather to “move on” and not punish them.
Your position seems reasonable, though many think the lockdowns and shot harms weren’t mere ineptitude but rather an intentional bioweapon operation, deserving of exposure and indictments.
Peter McCullough MD has suggested forgiveness and amnesty, however.
Dr. Peter McCullough flip-flops, now says Covid vaccine harms are unintentional, calls for “forgiveness” and “amnesty”
Arguably the most important Covid early treatment advocate and opponent of ineffective and harmful Covid injections, Peter McCullough MD has switched from calling the Covid injection operation “bioterrorism” to saying nucleic acid shots encoding an ethnically targeting Covid spike protein
But Dr. Atlas is right.
In response to a question on X about which prominent doctors speak truthfully about Covid policies, I had mistakenly grouped him with those who recommend forgiving the crooks:
With apologies, I stand corrected.
More accurately, here’s what I wrote in a prior article:
Scott Atlas, MD (Stanford’s Hoover Institution, former White House Covid advisor):
“If Congress — in my opinion as a citizen here — spends a lot of time punishing individual people, I just don't see how that is a sort of unifying theme on the way to move forward.”Why is having “a sort of unifying theme on the way to move forward” a necessary or even desirable goal when a bioweapon operation is underway against us?
And how is pursuing killers not “unifying”?
[Dr. Atlas continues:]
“I think yes, there has to be recognition that heinous errors were made. “And so I'm not sure that punishing individuals … I'm not sure that sort of a vindictive search to punish individuals is gonna be productive.”This is a common theme we hear from leaders like Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Aseem Malhotra, and Dr. Peter McCullough:
Nothing is intentional. It is all just “errors.”
Courage
As professor and chief of neuroradiology at Stanford from 1998 to 2012, Dr. Atlas is a brilliant man who has dedicated his life to the health and welfare of humanity.
He is also courageous, adhering to evidence while facing significant backlash from Stanford University colleagues and Trump advisors Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, and CDC Director Robert Redfield, who falsely claimed Dr. Atlas’s skepticism on masks, social distancing, and lockdowns were contrary to established science.
His persistence in advocating for focused protection, school reopenings, and limited mask mandates, despite professional and public opposition, reflects fortitude to risk being harshly attacked in advancing evidence-based policy.
And his willingness to challenge the prevailing narrative despite professional ostracism and accusations of spreading “misinformation” reveals a commitment to high-quality data, particularly his view that mask mandates and lockdowns lacked sufficient evidence for application.
Masks
Dr. Atlas consistently expressed well-founded skepticism about the universal use of face masks to curb Covid transmission.
A tweet in October 2020 stating “Masks work? NO” was removed by Twitter censors for violating its “misinformation” policy, indicating his public statements were undermining illusions of mask safety and efficacy.
Masks shed plastic particles that embed in artery walls and associate with 4.5X risk of heart attack, stroke, or death
As reported by Brad Stanfield MD in the video above, a March 2024 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found:
Lockdowns
Dr. Atlas’s opposition to lockdowns was particularly bold given the dominant narrative favoring strict restrictions.
His call for Michigan residents to “rise up” against lockdown measures in November 2020 sparked accusations of inciting violence, though he clarified he meant peaceful protest and voting. Stanford University distanced itself from these remarks, and the Faculty Senate condemned his actions as “anathema” to their values.
Despite this, Dr. Atlas persisted, correctly arguing in his book and interviews that lockdowns caused “massive physical health losses and psychological distress” and were driven by fear rather than evidence.
His stance aligned with the evidence rather than the operation’s propaganda.
Social distancing
Dr. Atlas questioned the rigidity of social distancing guidelines, accurately describing some measures (e.g., six-foot distancing rules) as “arbitrary pseudoscience concepts.”
He advocated for social distancing in high-risk settings but opposed blanket restrictions, arguing they caused more harm than good, particularly for low-risk populations.
He supported protecting vulnerable groups, such as nursing home residents, while allowing others to resume normal activities.
Loss of freedoms
In 2021, Dr. Atlas aptly lamented Americans’ willingness during Covid to submit to destruction of their civil liberties:
The coronavirus pandemic has … exposed profound issues in America that now threaten the very principles of freedom and order that we Americans often take for granted.
First, I have been shocked at the enormous power of the government, to unilaterally decree to simply close businesses and schools by edict, restrict personal movement, mandate behavior, and eliminate our most basic freedoms, without any end and little accountability.
Second, I remain surprised at the acceptance by the American people of draconian rules, restrictions, and unprecedented mandates, even those that are arbitrary, destructive, and wholly unscientific.
Post-tenure statements on Covid shots (2021–2025)
After leaving the White House, Dr. Atlas expressed concerns regarding vaccine mandates and their application to low-risk populations.
In a 2021 Stanford Review lecture, he questioned the necessity of vaccinating all children, given their low risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes and limited role in transmission, arguing such policies lacked scientific grounding.
He suggested vaccines should be prioritized for high-risk groups, a view consistent with his targeted protection philosophy.
By 2024, Dr. Atlas’s rhetoric had sharpened. In a post on X, he stated leadership in health should be disqualified if they did not acknowledge “COVID vax has problems; Only consider if high risk.”
This suggests he thinks the jabs carry risks that outweigh benefits for low-risk individuals, a stance that aligns with skepticism about their broad application but stops short of outright rejection.
He has apparently not claimed Covid shots are harmful for people of all ages — despite mounting evidence of this — but has criticized their mandated use and the lack of open discussion about potential adverse effects.
In his 2021 book A Plague Upon Our House, Dr. Atlas expresses regret he did not delve deeper into vaccine necessity for low-risk groups, indicating a growing skepticism post-tenure.
However, he has evidently not discussed specific evidence of vaccine harm, focusing instead on the lack of transparency and the suppression of debate, which he attributes to political and media influences.
Questions
Is Dr. Atlas aware of aspects of the Covid bioattack revealed by an NIH whistleblower and, apparently like Dr. McCullough, not permitted to discuss it?
Would he still recommend Covid injections for older adults and vulnerable people of all ages?
I thank Dr. Atlas for contacting me and explaining his views.
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Atlas makes a fundamental error that's all too common among decent people. He assumes those he wants to escape punishment are similar in psychological make-up to himself, and will be "humiliated". They don't feel humiliation or shame, at all. Only real, concrete consequences have any deterrent effect on them. They need to be pursued without mercy, since they themselves have no mercy.
These people are not like us. They are psychopaths, or at least very high on the psychopathic scale. NEVER think they are fully human, and affected in the least by public shaming or humiliation. Next thing you know, he'll be saying they should be allowed to continue as major players in our institutions, now that they've been properly chastised. Of course, there are many non-psychopaths attached to them who help them along. How, exactly, are they any better? You could even see those people as worse, since psychopaths can't help not having any scruples, and they are capable of empathy but chose to hurt us for their own purposes anyway.
The bioterrorism of COVID was intentional, calculated,and planned years before it’s unleashing. Fauci stood on the podium daily spewing fear. This split up families and put people in a state of terror long after the risk was gone. Once the COVID vaccine came out,it created more diversity and more hate. People were treated with bias and disdain in society and inside the hospital. My father died because he didn’t believe in the vaccine. Because of this he did not get treated appropriately and his life was taken from him. Nurses and doctors had know sympathy when unvaccinated patients were dying from COVID if they were unvaccinated. I witnessed it and watched the hatred. Fauci should be hanged in the streets with the rest of them for crimes against humanity and treason. People are dying slowly and suffering from the sequela of the vaccine. I see it in my ICU daily. This was not “errors” this was genocide and should be treated as such!