Learning from the Swedish Covid "experiment"

Kevin Bardosh sits down with Swedish journalist, Johan Anderberg, to discuss his latest book, The Herd: How Sweden Chose Its Own Path Through the Worst Pandemic in 100 Years. Translated into English in 2022, the book explores the no-lockdown approach taken by Anders Tegnell, Sweden's state epidemiologist during the pandemic, and the influence of his long-term mentor, Johan Giesecke. We discuss what motivated Johan to write the book, how pandemic policies evolved in Sweden, and the key lessons the world should learn from the so-called "Swedish Covid experiment."
Check out our conversation.
Johan Anderberg is a Swedish journalist and writer who has been a regular contributor to a number of Swedish and international media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Unherd, Fokus, and Swedish public radio.
Follow Johan Anderberg on X (formerly Twitter) @johananderberg
Kevin Bardosh is the Director of Collateral Global, a UK-based charity dedicated to researching the global impacts of Covid-19 policy responses and helping the world better balance societal trade-offs during future health emergencies. He has worked in more than 20 countries on infectious disease control programs (including Ebola and Zika), authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and edited two books. He is currently an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health, University of Washington USA and an Honorary Lecturer at the Edinburgh Medical School, University of Edinburgh UK.
Follow Kevin Bardosh on X (formerly Twitter) @KevinBardosh
Follow Collateral Global on Twitter @collateralglbl
collateralglob...

[@galaxytrio]

Really good!

[@Simulera]

We may learn from their experience, but to be clear, this is not controlled experiment. Or an experiment. It was a single example of a chain of decisions in a very complicated environment based on a point of view. Even what data was recorded and how is likely problematic if we dig around as is necessary to understand better what happened. We need to be careful what we extract from that experience, but it is extremely valuable experience. Learning from natural experience is very hard, hence ideas surrounding experiments were invented. Doesn’t help the value of the experience to confuse it further by calling it an experiment. The public narrative about “science” and the doing of science and using scientific results is already a mess with practical and destructive implications to both science and society.