for instance a lead epidemiologist here in NZ employed at auckland university went full covid hoaxer anti-lockdown git despite y'know, being a leading epidemiologist. even after everything that's happened and how well we navigated the pandemic as a country, he and many others that are a part of Voice For Freedom (covid hoaxer, anti lockdown, anti vaccine rollout fucks) are unwilling to accept they were wrong.
anyway, yes, totally normal to leak your unpublished paper to such a reputable source as the DM. their peers in this case are near unanimously skeptical or outright saying they're wrong (and numerous journals have rejected their study) but the daily mail and josh boswell have definitely found the Free Thinkers that will enlighten us to the real conspiracy