Over 1,2000 Scientists have slammed Boris Johnson’s plans as ‘unscientific and unethical’
The government has been urged to reconsider plans to end Covid restrictions on Monday with scientists warning it could have a monumental effect on the UK, and pose a “danger to the world”.
Over 1,200 scientists have slated Boris Johnson’s ‘freedom day’ as “unscientific and unethical”, The Independent reports. The experts met on Friday, warning that an end to legal restrictions would result in “herd immunity by mass infection”.
The warning comes as England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, admitted that we could be in another lockdown within five weeks.
Stop calling it Freedom Day.
It’s so dumb when the pandemic is still raging hard & UK’s now got highest number of new daily cases in the world. The Delta variant doesn’t know or care about July 19… all it wants is for us to remove all restrictions at the worst possible time. 👇 pic.twitter.com/DTe19DCY2n— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 15, 2021
Professor Michael Baker, a member of the New Zealand government’s Covid advisory group, said his colleagues were “amazed” and “astounded” that the PM is going ahead with the plans as he thought the UK had moved past its initial reaction of herd immunity. “It seems now, strangely, that the UK is going back to that approach.”
“UK policy affects not only UK citizens, it affects the world. We cannot understand why this [unlocking] is happening,” said Professor Jose M Martin-Moreno from the University of Valencia.
Professor Christina Pagel, a member of the Independent UK Sage panel, said: “Because of our position of a global travel hub any variant that becomes dominant in the UK will likely spread to the rest of the world.
“We saw it with Alpha variant. I’m absolutely sure that we have contributed to the rise of the Delta variant in North America and Europe. UK [government] policy doesn’t just affect us – it affects everybody.”
Today’s Covid figures are horrendous.
Another 48,553 cases.
How – when we’re a whisker away from 50k new cases daily – can @BorisJohnson possibly plough on with so-called ‘Freedom Day’?
He is abdicating all responsibility in 4 days time.
It’s grotesquely selfish.
— Dr Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) July 15, 2021
Professor Whitty has previously stated that there is “no clear evidence” that delaying the next step of England’s road map out of lockdown would make a difference in reducing the spread of Covid transmission. But Lancet editor-in-chief Richard Horton said Whitty was “wilfully misrepresenting scientific opinion” with claims that there was widespread support for Johnson’s approach.
With scientific bodies unified in the belief that the UK is moving too fast, ‘freedom day’ is looking to be a tipping point in the battle against covid.
You will be able to order and drink at the bar from Monday.#FreedomDay 🍺
— The Three Colts 🐴🐴🐴 (@TheThreeColts) July 14, 2021
