Anti-vaxxers, social care and Sunak
THE anti-vaxxer movement, how Covid-19 has highlighted the social care crisis and the challenge facing Chancellor Rishi Sunak were the topics debated by columnists and contributors in the newspapers.
The Daily Mail
Dominic Lawson said a vaccine was the only sure way to deal with coronavirus but it needed 70 to 90 per cent of us to receive an inoculation to reach herd immunity.
The main hitch to this is the so-called anti-vaxxer movement, he said.
“Yesterday, it was revealed that the ‘head of standards’ for the Society of Homeopaths, Sue Pilkington, had on her social media account repeatedly re-posted tirades by ‘anti-vaxxers’, including one which describes vaccines as ‘poison’,” he said. “On her own business website, she claimed that homeopathy has ‘a great track record of success in epidemics’, citing the Spanish influenza and bird flu epidemics as (non-existent) evidence.”
He said the hero of the antivaxxer movement is former doctor Andrew Wakefield, whose fraudulent study in 1998 claimed that autism in children was caused by the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
“Despite being struck off by the British General Medical Council – which, among other things, established that he had ‘deliberately falsified’ data he is now thriving in the US,” he said.
He said a Yougov poll this month revealed that one in five British adults would turn down a vaccine.
He called for celebrities and sports stars to advocate a vaccine and counteract those who are endorsing the anti-vax movement.
“In the field of sport, [the Government] should hire, say, Andy Murray, to promote a campaign (a suitable antidote to ‘anti-vaxxer’ Novak Djokovic,” he said. “It may well be necessary, when the coronavirus vaccine becomes available, for the state to ask the most popular, rather than the most qualified – how about Prince William? – to inoculate the public against the anti-vaxxers.”
The Guardian
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said coronavirus had removed any possible excuse for a delay in ending the crisis in social care.
“When the peak of the pandemic approached and NHS beds were desperately needed, vulnerable people were discharged from hospitals into care homes without proper testing,” he said. “Other countries introduced restrictions on care home visitors at an early stage in the pandemic, and required people being discharged to care homes to either have a negative test result, or to be quarantined for 14 days in a separate facility.”
He said that, as well as extra funding for the social care sector, local authorities needed more money.
“Our annual winter crisis arises because the wraparound care people need is not provided, so they end up in A&E and cannot be discharged from hospitals to social care,” he said. “Britain spends a lower percentage of GDP on social care than countries such as Denmark, Norway or the Netherlands. We Conservatives always said the purpose of the painful measures taken in 2010 was short-term: to put the economy on its feet so we would be in a better position to increase funding for public services. We have delivered that for the NHS – now we must be as good as our word for social care.”
The Daily Express
Sir Robbie Gibb said Chancellor
Rishi Sunak’s pledge to launch the biggest state intervention since the Second World War – a £190 billion grant package to protect millions of jobs and shore up thousands of businesses – would secure his place in history.
“Last week, he was responsible for the Government having a relatively rare array of near universally good coverage after his “mini Budget” bailout of an extra £30bn,” he said. “I have yet to meet anyone linked to Sunak who doesn’t hold him in the highest regard – not just for his intelligence and tireless work ethic but also his sense of duty and compassion.”
“He’s incredibly forensic,” said one aide. “He goes right down into the detail of every policy to make sure it’s the best it can be. He feels very keenly this is about people’s lives and their livelihoods.”
Gibb said Sunak told friends his first week as Chancellor felt like he had climbed Everest – only to realise he had barely reached base camp.
“He has proved he has the skill and the stamina for the climb – but only time will tell if he can prevent our ailing economy from falling off the edge,” he added.