Top scientist quits Sage over Plan B hold-up

ONE of Britain’s top scientists has quit the panel of experts that advises ministers on tackling the pandemic, it emerged last night.

Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, left the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) last month, warning the pandemic ‘is a long way from over’.

He is understood to have been advocating for a ‘vaccine plus’ strategy to curb the high levels of transmission in the UK.

His plan called for more mask wearing, ventilation and continued testing to get the nation through what some experts predict will be a difficult winter.

But ministers have so far declined to implement the tougher measures known as Plan B. Yesterday, 33,865 cases were recorded in the UK. Another 293 deaths were counted but this was higher than usual because hospital deaths in England were not included in Monday’s data due to a technical problem.

The Government has previously been accused of pushing back against scientific advice because of the economic damage caused by tighter restrictions. Sir Jeremy told Sky News: ‘The Covid-19 crisis is a long way from over, with the global situation deeply troubling.

‘The high levels of transmission seen in the UK remain concerning, but I stepped down as a participant of Sage knowing ministers had been provided with most of the key science advice needed over the winter months.’

He said he would now concentrate on his work at the Wellcome Trust, a charitable foundation focusing on health research, including into how to end the pandemic.

Sir Jeremy said in July that he ‘seriously considered resigning from Sage’ when the Government chose not to introduce a lockdown in September 2020.

The Government last night issued a statement about his departure but failed to thank him for his work. A spokesman said: ‘Throughout the pandemic we have been guided by scientific and medical experts and thanks to our collective national effort we have saved lives, vaccinated tens of millions of people and protected our NHS...

‘We are monitoring all the data closely, and the Prime Minister has been clear that it does not yet show that Plan B is necessary.’