Why would Ioannidis risk reputation for such a small amount? I do not bite it. He did a basic research which is what he is paid to do. If his analysis has flaws

Why would Ioannidis risk reputation for such a small amount? I do not bite it. He did a basic research which is what he is paid to do. If his analysis has flaws a, The paper was peer reviewed b. We can see other peer reviewed papers disprove his findings. The flame wars feed conspiracy theories in both sides. I am not an expert, I am not even a researcher any more, however my possibly flawed opinion is that deadliness of the virus is not a number written in stone and may have seasonal and regional variation.