UK’s pandemic response cost lives: Inquiry
LONDON: British lawmakers said on Tuesday that the government’s response when Covid-19 swept into Europe cost lives and was “one of the most important public health failures” in the country’s history.
In a damning assessment, a cross-party group of MPs found that official pandemic planning was too focused on influenza and had failed to learn the lessons from prior outbreaks of Sars, Mers and Ebola.
The 151-page study, published by two parliamentary committees after months of hearings, comes ahead of an independent public inquiry into the government’s coronavirus handling due to begin next year.
Britain has suffered one of the highest tolls in Europe with nearly 138,000 Covid-19 deaths since March last year, raising questions about why it has fared worse than comparable nations.
The parliamentarians said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government had waited too long to act in early 2020. Leading advisers had pushed a “deliberate policy” to take a “gradual and incremental approach” to interventions such as social distancing, isolation and lockdowns, said the report. That approach had been proved “wrong” and led to a higher death toll, the report said.
There was a “policy approach of fatalism about the prospects for Covid-19 in the community”, contributing to avoidable deaths in care homes after thousands of elderly patients were discharged from hospitals without testing.
Texas bans jab mandates by private employers
Texas governor Greg Abbott outlawed vaccine mandates in the US state, setting the stage for a showdown with the federal government in Washington. In an executive order, the Republican said “no entity in Texas can compel receipt of a Covid-19 vaccination by any individual, including an employee or consumer, who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience,” according to a statement from Abbott’s office.
FDA considers boosters of Moderna, J&J vaccines
Americans who got Pfizer shots are rolling up their sleeves for a booster dose. Meanwhile, millions who received the Moderna or J&J vaccine wait to learn when it’s their turn. US regulators begin tackling that question this week. On Thursday and Friday, the Food and Drug Administration convenes its independent advisers for the first stage in the process of deciding whether extra shots of the two vaccines should be dispensed.