Experts clash over Covid-19 response
TWO groups of health experts have written separate letters to the UK’s chief medical officers expressing polarising views on the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
One group of doctors and academics has expressed concern over the government’s suppression strategy, calling for targeted measures such as segmentation and shielding of vulnerable groups to be adopted instead of local or national lockdowns.
Meanwhile, another group of experts has denounced the idea of a targeted approach of shielding the vulnerable until “herd immunity” had developed, saying there were no examples of this working in any country.
The comments from the opposing groups came in open letters addressed to the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific officer.
The authors of the letter in favour of a more targeted approach include Sunetra Gupta, p professor of theoretical ep epidemiology at Oxford U University, and Carl H Heneghan, director of the C Centre for Evidence Based M Medicine at Oxford.
Signatories argue the g government should adopt ta targeted measures because 8 89% of Covid-19 deaths are in th the over-65 group, while a m majority of deaths are co concentrated in people with pr pre-existing conditions.
The letter states: “The un unstated objective currently ap appears to be one of su suppression of the virus, until su such a time that a vaccine can be deployed.
““This objective is inc increasingly unfeasible... and is lea leading to significant harm across all age groups, which likely offsets any benefits.
“Instead, more targeted measures that protect the most vulnerable from Covid, whilst not adversely impacting those not at risk, are more supportable. Given the high proportion of Covid deaths in care homes, these should be a priority. Such targeted measures should be explored as a matter of urgency, as the logical cornerstone of our future strategy.”
Conversely, a letter led by Trisha Greenhalgh, chairman of primary care health sciences at Oxford University, and supported by 22 other health experts, backed current efforts to “suppress the virus across the entire population, rather than adopt a policy of segmentation or shielding the vulnerable until ‘herd immunity’ has developed.”