No large-scale efficacy study done on PCR tests

 Apparently this was written up several years ago by the New York Times.  

Here's a quote in which I found the story:

TAKEAWAY FROM THE TIMES: No large study validating the uniformity of PCR results, from lab to lab, has ever been done. At least a dozen very large studies should have checked for uniform results, before unleashing the PCR on the public; but no, this was not the case. It is still not the case. Also, the extreme sensitivity of the test causes MANY false-positives.

Given that the Times piece is dated, was this true still during this so-called pandemic?  Did the public get played by a test that wasn't standardized nor proven effective?  One thing we know from the Fauci video awhile back, the PCR was cycled too much anyway.  It would discredit the test even more if it were found to be largely ineffective in its purported reason for existence.