Once at the Center of a Censorship Scandal, Stanford University Hosts Open Debate on COVID Policies Children’s Health Defense [Video]

Academic debate on COVID-19 policy is finally thriving, according to a new report by Just the News.

Stanford University last month hosted a conference on COVID-19 pandemic policy, to listen and debate diverse perspectives.

“I think this is the first event where people of very different viewpoints about what happened during the pandemic are going to speak to each other in a way that’s constructive,” said Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., professor of health policy at Standford’s School of Medicine, who gave the event’s welcome and introduction.

In October 2020, Bhattacharya co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, a document that criticized COVID-19 lockdowns for the physical and mental health harms they would cause, especially for kids.

Bhattacharya faced public criticism and censorship for his views, prompting him to become a plaintiff in the anti-censorship lawsuit Murthy v. Missouri.

Bhattacharya told the conference audience that the academic world in 2020 wasn’t open to hearing diverse views on COVID-19.

He said:

“In …