Experts want probe into Covid response

Call for ‘transparent’ inquiry while ‘players still on the pitch’

LEADING Covid-19 experts have called for a ‘public and transparent’ inquiry into decision making during the pandemic while those in power are still at the helm.

The call comes as the Government pushes ahead with plans to fully reopen the hospitality sector amid a surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the Delta variant.

University College Cork immunovirologist Professor Liam Fanning told the Irish Mail on Sunday it was ‘imperative’ that an inquiry be held while the ‘players are still on the pitch’, referring to those in Government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).

Trinity College neuroscientist and member of the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group (ISAG), Dr Tomás Ryan, also called for scrutiny of decisions made from the beginning of the pandemic to the ongoing reopening.

Prof. Fanning told the MoS: ‘We’re making similar decisions now with regard to indoor dining that were made last November. We won’t see the level of illness and death that we saw last year due to the high level of vaccinations in the community

‘We need to ask did this Government do it right’

but it’s still a decision based on commercial imperative over public health and protecting the unvaccinated.

‘We need to be asking did this government do it right and we need answers to those questions now while we’re still in this and while we move from a pandemic to an epidemic, and eventually the disease will become endemic. While the players are on the pitch we need to have an assessment of the quality of governance.’

He said an inquiry was necessary to examine the reasoning behind reopening last November, which led to an overwhelmed test and trace system.

He also said the approach to antigen testing was highly questionable. ‘The HSE are saying now it will be using antigen testing as it’s in surge capacity, which shows you how wrong the decision was not to use them sooner. I fully believe had we adopted use of antigen testing along with Europe from October 2020, many lives would have been saved,’ said Prof. Fanning.

Dr Ryan also called for an inquiry ‘relatively quickly’ as he believes questionable decisions were made over the course of the pandemic.

He told the MoS: ‘The two main issues for me are the decisions made around nursing homes at the start of the pandemic. There were also NPHET members resisting the use of face masks into as recently as last summer.

‘Thirdly, is the Christmas reopening which was the single most foolish thing that happened. We ignored ventilation as a major issue in the spread of Covid-19, that wasn’t prioritised as quickly as it should have been looking at international evidence. We were slow in acknowledging that travel was a problem.’

Both Dr Ryan and Prof. Fanning said the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has been too slow to pick up on international practice in relation to vaccines and the benefits of following an mRNA vaccine with AstraZeneca, which produces an improved immune response and would also help us speed up the rollout by offering mixed doses.

NIAC recommended against mixed doses in June.