Mick Clifford: Free speech is vital in any democracy — but sacrificing science will have deadly consequences

Conspiracy theories are all very well but children’s health should always be the priority

US president Donald Trump with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and Jayme Leagh Franklin after signing an executive order calling for childhood vaccine shots to be spaced out into separate visits. Picture: Getty Images

This week we saw a glaring contrast in how two separate societies regard their duty to protect the health of the public. In one, public health was viewed through the lens of science. In the other it is filtered through politics in a manner that is likely to cost lives.

Last Monday it was announced that a Wexford GP had been found guilty of professional misconduct over posts he issued on social media during the covid pandemic.