A Delicate Balance

An effective government policy countering the COVID-19 pandemic relies on scientific advice. Still, there is a fine line to be tread to make the relationship between politics and science work well. Transparency is one key factor.

By Christian Schwägerl

n recent years, a phrase became popular among pathological narcissism led him to envy Fauci’s top American scientists: “When the going gets popularity among an anxious population, who Itough, go get Fauci.” The 79-year-old immunol- admired their new “explainer-in-chief.” Some peo- ogist was a kind of secret scientific weapon when ple even took to wearing t-shirts with Fauci’s face it came to dealing with politicians, and indeed the on them. It also became clear that Fauci wanted to public. Anthony Fauci is head of the NIAID, the Na- prioritize public health over short-term economic tional Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. considerations, a policy Trump regarded as very Famous for his research but with no star persona, dangerous…to his re-election prospects. he can clearly explain complex scientific subjects, Dr. Fauci began to publicly express frustration sketch out their practical implications, and explain with a president who seemed quite unwilling to the consequences for politics and everyday life. learn, and who paid no heed to scientific facts, This is how, early in 2020, Dr. Fauci became the publicly recommending the drinking of bleach and public face of American science. With the corona- expressing faith in non-existent light therapies. “I virus spreading across the United States, President can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him Donald Trump eventually recognized the illness as down!” Fauci told Science magazine in March 2020. a huge and present danger, no mere Democratic By early summer, relations had badly broken hoax. Fauci stepped into the limelight, in person down. Fauci appeared in public far less often, as the at the president’s briefings, which were broadcast White House vetoed his media appearances. With worldwide. the presidential election approaching, Trump dis- But cracks soon appeared in the relations be- paraged his top scientist, calling him a “disaster,” tween the president and his top scientist. Trump’s and dismissing his own advisors as “idiots.” Fauci

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was even assigned a team of bodyguards. advisor to then-President George W. Bush, By now, the rest is history. reportedly dismissed those who believed Germany’s experience in 2020 has been politics was about the close study of reali- quite different, above all because Chan- ty. “We create our own reality,” he said. Not cellor Angela Merkel is a trained scientist, so far from the “alternative facts” cited by with a PhD in physics. For Merkel, science Trump’s advisor Kellyanne Conway when is not meant to be a political performance. discussing inauguration crowd numbers She declined to push Fauci’s German coun- in 2017. terpart—Christian Drosten, the head of the This kind of thinking spread in Europe National Coronavirus Laboratory and Di- too, above all in the United Kingdom. Un- rector of the Institute for Virology at Ber- der Tony Blair’s Labour government, “spin lin’s Charité hospital—into the spotlight to doctors” ruled the roost, not people with boost her political standing, although he actual doctorates. In 2016, Conservative would have been an appropriate figure to politician Michael Gove took a directly play the role. anti-science stance: during a debate on Merkel has rarely appeared with scientists in public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Behind the scenes, however, the chancellor has regularly brought scientists into discussions, as at the key meeting in October 2020 between Merkel and the lead- ers of Germany’s 16 federal states. German Chancel- On the whole, the German chancellor prefers to present the science herself. In late September, she impressed the public lor Angela Merkel with a live “back of the envelope” scientific calculation, used to show that, if prefers to present nothing was done, a few hundred cases in August could mean 19,200 by Christmas. But outside the public eye, she has sought the science herself out contacts with scientists. From the Robert Koch Institute to the Leopoldina (German National Academy of Sciences) and the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, scientific institutions have contributed knowledge to the polit- Brexit, he famously said, “People in this ical understanding of Germany’s public country have had enough of experts.” health situation. Similar trends have occurred in Hungary, where the government has the scientific A Split in the Western World community on a tight leash, and in Brazil, Christian Schwägerl These contrasting attitudes to science where President Jair Bolsonaro has tried to is one of Germany‘s could hardly be more striking. They rep- stop the publication of data on coronavirus leading science resent a deep split in the Western world, and on Amazon deforestation. journalists and co- founder of Riff- one which goes back long before Trump’s The governments of New Zealand, Reporter. 2016 victory. In 2004, Karl Rove, a close Canada, and Germany stand as counter-

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examples, having at least tried to orient half of the 20th century. Scientists have policy—on climate change, the pandemic, all too willingly supported political ideol- and other issues, including dangerous de- ogies, like the Social Darwinism preached clines in biodiversity—according to scien- by Herbert Spencer. Nazi Germany’s geno- tific research. cidal plans and human experiments were To understand these conflicts around crimes substantially driven by scientists. science and politics, we need to look back The scientific community has subjected at the history of science. This does not its role in Nazi crimes to serious critical make for comfortable reading on any side scrutiny—although the process is hardly of the debate. The historical record dis- complete—and drawn broad conclusions. proves simplistic models in which “good But there has not yet been intense debate politics” always listens to “good science,” around science’s role in the imperialist while bad politics does not. and colonial genocides of the West. Since World War II, science has been Complicated Relations more obliged than ever to uphold its own Science has profoundly enriched the rela- basic values. It has not shied away from tionship between politics and society. De- presenting politicians with uncomforta- ploying evidence, arguing for proof, and ble truths. In free Western countries, im- refuting error, science has contributed to pressive networks of scientific advisors on a massive growth in material and physical political issues have been created. wellbeing, not least with breakthroughs in In Germany, this network has several medicine, agriculture, and communica- layers. In terms of government, the most tions. Beyond even that, science has also closely-integrated science is the “depart- been central to the emergence of open, mental research” carried out within fed- democratic societies. eral and state governments. These days, The early Enlightenment held to the the most prominent of these institutions is utopian idea of a Republic of Scholars, in the Robert Koch Institute, headquartered which rationality would be the only princi- in Berlin. Coronavirus research has thrust ple and guide. As science flourished, it de- this institution into the spotlight, and it veloped methods against superstition, but continues to provide the government with these also worked against aristocratic de- daily information and advice. The large sires for total power. The scientific method research institutions of the Helmholtz generated a growing body of knowledge. Association are also working closely with More importantly, however, it encouraged the Federal Ministry of Research, although a subversive process of evidence gather- they remain organizationally separate ing, which could render powerless even a from government. The Helmholtz Associ- supposedly omnipotent pope or king. ation’s research aims are adjusted regular- But an idyllic or idealistic story of sci- ly, but the basic idea remains that of free ence’s influence on politics would not tell scientific inquiry. Since the outbreak of the the whole truth. Over the last century, pol- COVID-19 pandemic, the Helmholtz Center itics and science have often made highly for Infection Research in Braunschweig problematic alliances. has played a key role in creating models Scientists were enablers and accomplic- of the pandemic’s spread. es in colonialism and played a key role in The Leopoldina is the third type of the horrific escalation of war in the first institution offering public policy advice.

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The “public face of American science” began to express frustration with a president who paid no heed to facts: Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies during a hearing on the coronavirus crisis at the US Congress, July 2020

The head virologist at the Charité hospital has emphatically denied he was a sort of “replacement chancellor” for the time of the pandemic: Christian Drosten at his laboratory in Berlin

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closed-mindedness is one key problem, as US President is the very narrow thematic composition of committees. For example, most aca- demic economists offering policy advice Donald Trump still wrongly regard environmental and climate protection as “externalities,” as came to denigrate if life’s natural basis could be something merely extra, an add-on to what is sup- posed to be reality. his own experts Major errors have also occurred: in Germany, demographers long predicted rapid and unavoidable population decline, and were widely listened to in the political world. However, population decline Founded in 1652, it is Germany’s oldest will probably not now occur until at least scientific organization, and strongly em- 2030. This means all planning—whether phasizes its autonomy and independence. urban development, energy reform, or In 2008, it relaunched as the “National public debt policy—has been based on Academy of Sciences,” a role in which false premises. Fortunately, there are the Leopoldina regularly publishes rec- many examples of scientists supplying ommendations on issues from COVID-19 timely, well-founded, thorough advice on to biodiversity. For its part, the German problems going beyond the usual political parliament (the Bundestag) has its own time horizon (i.e. the next election). Above institutions for research and consultation, all, this has been true for climate change. including its Research Services and the Between 1987 and 1990 (!), the parliamen- Office for Technology Impact Assessment. tary Enquête Commission on “Provisions Additionally, parliamentary “Enquête to Protect the Earth’s Atmosphere” was Commissions” offer a unique format for already offering decisive warnings for hu- producing science-based advice. manity, helping climate politics to emerge Across federal and state levels, there as a field in its own right. are numerous scientific advice commit- Thus, when the coronavirus first began tees in all areas of politics, employing to circulate early in 2020, both Germany university academics and expert from and the United States were well prepared other institutes. Most Western countries for scientists to advise political leadership. have similarly broad networks. However, What happened next will probably dom- in the United States the leadership of the inate debate on science-politics relations White House Office of Science and Tech- for many years to come. An entire gener- nology Policy (OSTP) remained vacant for ation of historians of science will study 18 months after Trump’s 2016 victory. how President Trump denigrated his own experts, including Fauci and the entire Getting It Wrong, Sometimes Centers for Disease Control, both in me- In general, scientific advice is not lacking, dia comments and in practical contexts. and has very often formed the basis for But even Germany has seen differences good and feasible political decisions. But in opinion on how politicians should best not everything runs perfectly: disciplinary respond to advice. Good scientific advice

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should always rely on the most up-to-date effectiveness of masks. He has helped a research, and should be open about any wide audience understand that research gaps in its knowledge. It needs to acknowl- on COVID-19 in children and the young is edge errors, and respect the time pressure unsettled and incomplete. Drosten’s “one that politicians are under. Ideally, advice man show” has presented politicians with should offer several possible actions, not options, while his ongoing dialogue with just one. Above all, scientists should be the general public has emphasized collec- clear on their own role, and refrain from tive learning processes in the pandemic. playing politics. As a public figure, Hendrik Streeck, head of virology at Bonn University, presents a Behind the Scenes stark contrast with Drosten. Ever since the During the pandemic, scientific advice in earliest reports on the new virus, Streeck Germany has largely taken place behind has continually minimized its dangers. the scenes. There is no central national sci- In April, he inflated his own fieldwork, entific committee, and Merkel has decid- making claims for national transmission ed not to have scientists stand at her side. based on his narrow study of contagion Even so, several individuals have come to in Gangelt, a village in the federal state of dominant media coverage. North Rhine-Westphalia. His claims were Scientific figures who seem to embody presented at a joint press conference with scientific ideals include Christian Drosten, Armin Laschet, prime minister of North head virologist at Berlin’s Charité hospi- Rhine-Westphalia. Streeck’s intervention tal, and Sandra Ciesek, head of Frankfurt helped bolster Laschet’s demands for a University’s Institute for Virology. Early in rapid end to the first lockdown, propos- the debate, Drosten emphatically denied als which succeeded some days later. The he was a sort of “replacement chancellor” Bonn virologist has used his position to for the pandemic. In many interviews, he popularize ideas discredited in scientific has openly acknowledged his own errors, literature, in particular “herd immunity” for example his misunderstanding of the theories. These claim that widespread infection among the young, even in the absence of a vaccine, could offer collective defense to society. As the year has gone on, Streeck’s mes- saging has come disquietingly close to that emerging from Trump’s White House. At Good scientific times, his ideas have been based on false assumptions, for example about how long advice needs to and how well antibodies can protect those recovering from COVID-19, and about dangers to young people, even outside sup- be open about posed high-risk groups. There has been much speculation about possible moti- vations for Streeck’s interventions. What gaps in its present is clear is that his pronouncements have brought him substantial media attention, knowledge and won him the support of the powerful

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media group Axel Springer and its own- sequences, have seen slower resolution. er, the US investment company KKR. One Some questions—where the virus origi- KKR subsidiary, Deutsche Glasfaser, has nated, for example—could take years to helped to co-finance Streeck’s “Heins- answer. Many much-heralded announce- burg” study in North Rhine-Westphalia. ments, for example on the effectiveness of medicines like Remdesivir, have ultimate- A Communication Gap ly turned out to be false. Both politicians In one way, the contrast between Dros- and the population at large are now see- ten and Ciesek and scientists like Streeck ing “science in the making,” as the whole revealed a healthy pluralism of opinion in Germany, although for politicians it presents a problem of whom to trust. But what became clear, above all, was that the German science establishment as a whole In a pandemic, was unprepared to communicate with the public in an emergency. In particular, it did not know how to deal with problematic people want rapid figures. In February 2020 a huge communication gap opened up, into which poured certainties and conspiracy theorists, ideologists, and quack doctors. Accustomed to announcing break- guarantees, also throughs, science communication professionals in Europe and the US have struggled to counteract conspiracy the- on a vaccine orists on social media. Effective political advice has been hampered by a failure to weigh statements of different value, and to act against problematic assertions by world has turned into a real-life laboratory, some researchers. This has prompted a where the health and survival of millions wave of critical interventions, like that of depend on the smooth functioning of the “Siggen Circle,” an important forum science and its processes of knowledge for science communication professionals. production. A statement from October 2020 contained Every day we are reminded of Karl Pop- down-to-earth advice: “If in doubt, keep per, the philosopher who described sci- your mouth shut!” ence as the “present state of error.” Today, In a pandemic, people want rapid cer- both politicians and the general public tainties and guarantees, for example on have a unique opportunity to understand the availability of a vaccine. During the the great strength of the scientific meth- coronavirus outbreak, science has suc- od—to provide knowledge to act on, as is cessfully delivered gains in record time: the case in both the climate and the COV- for example, establishing the molecular ID-19 crises—and precisely its extraordi- structure of SARS-CoV-2, and identifying nary openness and capacity for learning, its differences from other pathogens. Oth- which helps politicians to keep an open er issues, like COVID-19’s long-term con- mind.

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