Whoever it was in Downing St who briefed out the #Herd_Immunity line has done immense damage to the UK government response to #COVIDー19 thread...
The phrase is normally used in the context of vaccination and seldom - if ever - as a public health strategy in which the majority of the population is allowed to become infected with a little understood and sometimes lethal illness...
It's hard to believe anyone with a medical background would have used it in a briefing. How often do you hear drs recommending exposure to seasonal flu as a strategy for example..
Whoever it was betrays a cynical (and flawed) *political* thinking which I find hard to imagine is shared by any of the gov's medical or scientific advisers...
The UK does need to get a Brexit deal negotiated. It does need to sort it's social care problem. It does need to build proper capacity into the NHS but the notion that allowing an epidemic to spike when it can be flattened might help is both reprehensible and idiotic...
Trust is all in times like this. It may not fit with some peoples agendas but it is trust in the authorities in China, Singapore, Taiwan Italy etc that is getting people through covid lockdowns in Asia, not coercion...
The UK government was doing well up until that off- record briefing. It now needs to deal with whoever was responsible and get back on track with the strategy for properly flattening the epidemic so the most vulnerable are properly protected..
That strategy is properly documented by the @WHO and @ECDC_Outbreaks and, I'm sure, is what the @DHSCgovuk and @PHE_uk continue to be fully aligned with... telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/0…
For some twit politico to pretend otherwise is self serving bullshit. There is no shortcut to getting round this virus. But there are established methods for dealing with it. Use them.
This thread explains in more detail..
Good to see UK Health Secretary @MattHancock formally kill off the "herd immunity" nonsense in today's Telegraph (free to read) telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…
Another update: The Times pins the blame for the original briefing on David Halpern, of the Whitehall nudge unit. I have no idea if it was him or not but whoever it was a bollocking is much deserved
Hmmm... Thought this worth adding even if the thread is a week old now...
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.