Billionaire investor Ackman should leave vaccine science to scientists

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, founder of FTSE 100-listed Pershing Square Holdings, is famous for his contrarian investment approach. Lately, Ackman has been in the news for a contrarian take on an altogether different subject – vaccination.

Ackman, who has 747,000 followers on Twitter, recently said Democratic presidential hopeful and anti-vax conspiracy theorist Robert Kennedy jnr was asking “important questions” about vaccines, including about the apparently “dramatic increases” in autism and “other health issues”.

Well, no. Ackman says he is not anti-vaccination, but amplifying the likes of Kennedy is a seriously bad idea.

Ackman notes his best investments were initially met with “extreme scepticism”, that experts are “often wrong”, that members of the establishment are “incentivised” not to challenge the conventional wisdom”. This is true, but so what? What makes an investment manager think he is in a position to challenge the scientific consensus?

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The allure of being a lone wolf who resists conformity and refuses to blindly follow the herd – there can be a seductive appeal to contrarianism. More often than not, however, there’s a good reason why the lone wolf is alone. Ackman should leave science to the scientists.