Social distancing practices en masse are actually counterproductive, says biomedical statistician

Widespread lockdowns aiming to curb the spread of coronavirus actually inhibit populations from achieving herd immunity, which aside from a vaccine is the only way to stop the spread of such a respiratory illness, according to Dr. Knut Wittkowski

During a recent interview on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast, Wittkowski, whose educational background covers statistics, genetics and epidemiology, asserted that the coronavirus pandemic is substantially similar to other respiratory infections like the flu. He noted that the elderly and people with comorbidities are especially vulnerable.

He said that if the population has not reached herd immunity there could be a second wave of the illness.

Wittkowski lambasted social distancing policies, noting the tremendous repercussions they have caused.

"Seventeen million people in the U.S. becoming unemployed is a huge disaster," Wittkowski said. "This is more serious in its consequences than any flu has ever been."

"The FDA would never allow a medication to come to the market with the same ratio of known side effects and lack of efficacy," Wittkowski said about the social distancing measures. "It was a disaster on virtually every scale you could measure it."

Wittkowski also highlighted the coronavirus recoveries taking place in nations around the world despite countries handling the health scare differently.

"So different countries have done very different things, and they all are getting better now," he said. "So it seems that whatever we are seeing had nothing to do with the intervention."