The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) has long been considered a gold standard in research, as its reviews take into account all available empirical evidence to reach conclusions about any given topic. A systematic review is essentially a “study of studies,” which can generate “authoritative and reliable information.”1
Their reviews are then updated every few years to ensure they reflect the latest research2 and are considered valuable decision-making tools for researchers, health care workers and policy makers alike.
Unfortunately, Cochrane’s unbiased reputation has been tarnished, and its editor in chief, Karla Soares-Weiser, appears to have sold out to the mainstream narrative, going so far as to throw her own researchers under the bus in the process. It all stems back to a study on masks — one of the most controversial topics of the pandemic.
Cochrane Review Finds Masks Are Worthless
A team of researchers led by Tom Jefferson of the University of Oxford has been studying “interventions for the interruption or reduction of the spread of respiratory viruses” since 2006. Beginning in 2010, they began focusing on “physical interventions,” — including screening at entry ports, isolation, quarantine, physical distancing, personal protection, hand hygiene, face masks, glasses and gargling — to prevent respiratory virus transmission.3
The review was updated in 2011, 2020 and again in 2023.4 The latest update added 11 new randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cluster-RCTs, six of which were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, for a total number of 78 RCTs reviewed. In terms of medical and surgical masks, the team found “moderate-certainty evidence” that they’re useless compared to no masks:5