Downing Street persistently denies that Boris Johnson’s Government is actively pursuing a herd immunity policy as a way to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
The Prime Minister has been insistent upon removing virtually all restrictions to curb the spread of the deadly disease despite new Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, admitting that the surging number of daily cases could reach over 100,000 by August.
It begs the question about why the Government is so determined to press ahead in the face of warnings from scientists and doctors among many others.
The Prime Minister has admitted that the delayed final phase of his opening up would be followed by more hospitalisations and deaths, but when pressed in Parliament, he refused to reveal the likely number even though he was admonished by the Speaker to answer the question.
“There are a number of projections” was as much as he was prepared to say, while misleadingly claiming that vaccines had “severed the link” between infections, serious diseases and mortality and not just weakened it. With so many cases, Johnson also failed to deny that the huge spike in cases would lead to millions being forced to self-isolate.
A BBC analysis shows more than 4.5 million people could still be asked to self-isolate between now and August 16 when the Government is aiming to drop the requirement.
The number of schoolchildren being forced to isolate has already risen to 700,000. Labour Leader, Sir Keir Starmer, who has often supported the Government during the pandemic, has called the removal of restrictions “reckless” including in particular encouraging masks not to be worn by no longer making it a legal requirement.
The British Medical Association has urged the Government to keep some targeted measures to control the spread of Covid-19 in place after July 19 in England, including in enclosed public spaces, such as public transport, shops, healthcare settings and in communal educational settings.
Mayors of large cities across the country have made similar calls, as well as trade unions.
Leading epidemiologist Deepti Gurdasani with other specialists warned in the medical journal The Lancet that the Government was “embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment.”
Herd immunity seeks to build resistance to the spread of an infectious disease within a population-based on high levels of pre-existing immunity as a result of previous infection or vaccination.
From the onset, Johnson argued that the British public needed to “take it on the chin.” His former adviser Dominic Cummings has admitted that it was “literally the official plan” yet the Prime Minister’s official spokesmen claim it is not the current strategy when everything suggests otherwise.
Can it be that the term is too toxic for the Government to admit when it is impossible to understand let alone try to justify what is being proposed when infection rates are so high?
The Prime Minister has often been accused of already having blood on his hand by being so inept, if not criminally negligent. There have been too many excessive deaths, with the UK having by far one of the worst records in the world.
Head of Emergencies at the World Health Authority, Mike Ryan, has described early reopening as ‘epidemiological stupidity’ warning of the risk of losing what countries have gained.
No other government has followed the UK path. New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, who has one of the best records in dealing with the pandemic, has said she was not willing to risk UK-style ‘live with Covid’ policy and that the level of death proposed by Johnson would be “unacceptable”.
Allowing the deadly virus to rip through the British population is an abdication of duty, and must not be allowed to go ahead with his “free-for-all” strategy after cause the surge of the Delta variant himself by not closing the UK’s borders.
