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EPA
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Prof Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance came under fire at the start of the pandemic
As the UK presents fresh restrictions on social contact to curb the spread of coronavirus, debate continues to rave about whether the government had actually initially considered trying a very different approach.At the start of the pandemic, the federal governments chief clinical adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, discussed “herd immunity” – the concept that when enough of a population had actually been exposed to the virus, they would develop natural immunity to it.Sir Patrick and the government have both insisted this was never official policy – and that there was no delay in locking down the county, as some critics have actually suggested.Emails acquired by the BBC reveal the alarm amongst the federal governments top clinical advisors at the response to Sir Patricks words.In one email from March, Sir Patrick requests for assistance to “cool down” academics who have expressed anger at his repetitive references to herd immunity and the hold-ups in revealing a lockdown. The product, acquired by the BBC by means of a Freedom of Information Act request, consists of every email sent out by Sir Patrick and primary medical officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, from the start of February to the start of June, including the words “herd resistance”. Mild disease There is no reference in any e-mail until after 13 March, when Sir Patrick went over herd immunity in a variety of media interviews. “Our aim,” he told BBC Radio 4s Today program that morning, is to “try and reduce the peak – not suppress it entirely, likewise because the majority of people get a moderate illness, to build up some degree of herd resistance whilst securing the most susceptible”. To lots of, his words appeared an indisputable recommendation of herd resistance. They also appeared to describe the governments hesitation to order the kind of lockdowns and social distancing steps that were already in location in many other nations, despite cases increasing and stressing scenes in medical facilities in Italy.
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Commuter stations were deserted at the height of lockdown
When asked how much of the British population would need to contract the virus for herd immunity to become reliable, he calmly replied “most likely around 60%”. The following day, a group of more than 500 researchers published a joint letter, criticising the lack of social distancing constraints enforced by the federal government, including that “going for herd immunity at this point does not appear a practical alternative, as this will put the NHS at an even stronger level of stress, risking many more lives than required”.
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Boris Johnson flanked by his leading clinical advisors at the start of the pandemic
In an e-mail to Sir Mark Walport, the UKs former chief scientific adviser, talking about the scientists letter, Sir Patrick suggests the message in reaction should be “herd immunity is not the technique. Calm down In reaction to an email entitled “Covid-19 and herd immunity”, from an academic, he writes brusquely “No it is NOT the strategy”. On the same weekend, he composes to a colleague, “anything you can do to calm our academic buddies down over herd immunity would be considerably appreciated”.
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PA Media
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Social distancing has been among the main weapons against the infection
He suggested what Sir Patrick had meant when stating it was not preferable to entirely reduce the virus, was that it would be so “hard and exorbitant to do that it would not be attainable”. Others, however, have actually suggested, despite the rejections, that “herd resistance” was certainly the strategy for a period of time.The very first public usage of the term by a UK authorities appears to be in a BBC interview on 11 March with Dr David Halpern, chief executive of the government-owned Behavioural Insights Team, known as the “nudge unit”, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage). He told the BBC: “Youll want to secure those at-risk groups so that they basically dont catch the illness and by the time they come out of their cocooning, herd immunitys been attained in the remainder of the population.”
In another email to the president of the Faculty of Public Health, which sets requirements for health specialists – who had actually raised concerns about the lack of screening – Prof Whitty insisted “the government had never pursued a herd immunity technique”. In a declaration, a federal government spokesman stated the emails “make clear … herd immunity has never ever been a policy aim”. That is not likely to put an end to the controversy, particularly given the absence of recommendations to herd immunity prior to the interviews offered by Sir Patrick on 13 March.
As the UK presents fresh limitations on social contact to curb the spread of coronavirus, debate continues to rave about whether the government had actually initially thought about trying a very various approach.At the start of the pandemic, the governments chief scientific advisor, Sir Patrick Vallance, spoke about “herd resistance” – the concept that once enough of a population had been exposed to the infection, they would construct up natural resistance to it.Sir Patrick and the government have both insisted this was never ever main policy – and that there was no hold-up in locking down the county, as some critics have actually suggested.Emails obtained by the BBC reveal the alarm among the governments top clinical consultants at the reaction to Sir Patricks words.In one email from March, Sir Patrick asks for assistance to “relax down” academics who have expressed anger at his repeated recommendations to herd immunity and the delays in revealing a lockdown. The product, obtained by the BBC through a Freedom of Information Act demand, consists of every e-mail sent by Sir Patrick and chief medical officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, from the start of February to the start of June, including the words “herd immunity”. Mild health problem There is no reference in any e-mail up until after 13 March, when Sir Patrick went over herd resistance in a number of media interviews. In an e-mail to Sir Mark Walport, the UKs previous chief scientific adviser, talking about the researchers letter, Sir Patrick suggests the message in action should be “herd resistance is not the technique. That is unlikely to put an end to the debate, especially provided the lack of referrals to herd resistance prior to the interviews offered by Sir Patrick on 13 March.