Back to Blog
![]() Few of us have experienced a pandemic, and we are all guilty of ignoring information that doesn’t reflect our own experience of the world. That the warning signs went unheeded is unsurprising. Covid-19 is caused by a new variant of the same coronavirus that caused Sars. ![]() Hendra in 1994, Nipah in 1998, Sars in 2003, Mers in 2012 and Ebola in 2014 these major human epidemics were all caused by viruses that originated in animal hosts and crossed over into humans. The global response to Sars-CoV-2 is the greatest science policy failure in a generation. Whatever the reasons for failing to act upon the lessons of Sars and influenza simulations, the fact remained, as Boyd summed it up, “we were poorly prepared”. The result was to leave the country fatally weakened. ![]() The political objective was to diminish the size and role of the state. ![]() It left me shattered.” But did the experience trigger government action? “We learnt what would help, but did not necessarily implement those lessons,” Boyd said.Īusterity blunted the ambition and commitment of government to protect its people. Ian Boyd, a former chief scientific adviser to the UK government between 20, recently recalled “a practice run for an influenza pandemic in which about 200,000 people died. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |