is it really a Uniparty or is there any hope of a different response?
2nd September 2024
An open letter to our new Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer
Dear Sir Keir,
Firstly, congratulations on becoming Prime Minister.
In your election campaign, you pledged to rebuild a broken Britain and your promise to the electorate was for change.
Britain is at a turning point. You can either continue with the mistakes of your predecessors or you can turn a fresh page and commit your government to transparency and honesty with the British public.
This letter comes to you from a broad base of UK doctors and health professionals wishing to share with you some vital insights into the pervasive and ongoing harms resulting from Covid-19 management. Acknowledging mistakes is a matter of priority if they are not to be repeated in the next declared public health emergency. We would add that signing Britain up to newly amended International Health Regulations and to a new WHO Pandemic Treaty will have a crippling effect on our national ability to make better decisions in future.
The UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry, although acknowledging the negative impacts of lockdowns, seems to be working largely on the assumption that the various measures were effective at slowing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, hence the focus on the timing and order of implementation. Indeed when you were Leader of the Opposition, you supported all the government measures, often pushing for them to be stronger and implemented more quickly.
But this begs the question, what if the measures themselves caused more harm than good? Much has been written and we cannot cover all the evidence in this letter, but will highlight some areas of controversy.
Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions
At some point in March 2020, a decision was made to abandon the existing evidence-based pandemic plans and instead adopt a policy of lockdowns and quarantining the healthy, as promulgated by China. Countries across the developed world appeared to follow a groupthink and abandon the precautionary principle. Risk assessments for the various measures were never made public, one must presume either because they were not carried out or because they did not support the chosen policy.
Four particularly damaging effects of these policies have impacts for your incoming government:
- Primary care was effectively closed at the outset of the pandemic, with patients advised to stay at home and only seek emergency care if they became blue or breathless. Along with the failure to look at repurposed readily available medicines and the indiscriminate use of DNAR orders in care homes, these policies almost certainly led to significant numbers of unnecessary deaths. In addition, the failure to maintain normal NHS activities has certainly resulted in huge and ongoing waiting lists;
- Business closures had a huge impact on the economy, widening the gap between rich and poor;
- School closures had a major impact on educational achievement, again with a widening gap for the most socially disadvantaged children;
- Psychological impacts of social isolation and constant fear messaging, coupled with loss of access to mental health services has led to ongoing anxiety in the general population and a serious mental health crisis in all age groups, but particularly in the young and elderly. Moreover, the methods of fear messaging, including guilt and scapegoating exemplified by slogans such as ‘I wear my mask to protect you’, had a very divisive effect within families and communities.
Vaccines
In March 2020, the Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty is on record saying that the SARS-CoV-2 infection fatality rate of less than 1% was too low to risk a rushed vaccine. Yet, that is precisely the route that was followed, inexplicably favouring new gene-based technologies over standard vaccine platforms. Numerous potential safety concerns were highlighted early on, by experts in the medical and scientific spheres, regarding the new technology.
The initial plan for this to be a vaccine solely for the elderly and frail, soon transformed into a stated aim to vaccinate the entire population as quickly as possible, despite the obvious differences in risk: benefit ratio for these products across the age range.
The vaccines were marketed to healthy young adults and to children largely on the basis of protecting other, older adults. This policy was both scientifically and ethically bankrupt, since the vaccines prevented neither infection nor transmission and, in any case, in a civilised society it is the responsibility of adults to protect children rather than the reverse.
You will doubtless be aware of significant and ongoing excess deaths in the UK since the vaccine rollout in 2021, debated on several occasions in Parliament. The fact that this is occurring in many Western countries and across all age groups, particularly in younger adults for whom there were no excess deaths during 2020, should have triggered alarm bells and resulted in an urgent investigation, yet the previous administration studiously avoided all requests for information.
In parallel with increased deaths, there has in addition been a significant rise in levels of sickness and disability recorded throughout the working age population. This has resulted not only in increased demands on the health service, but also has impacted the health and resilience of NHS staff themselves, with resulting high levels of staff sickness and absence causing additional strain on an already struggling system. Knock-on effects for the economy will inevitably follow.
The causes of excess mortality and morbidity are likely multifactorial, including the physical and mental impacts of lockdowns, delays in accessing treatment and long-term effects of Covid-19 itself. However, a fourth potential factor appears to be being deliberately ignored: that is, any possible role of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines. The timing of the rise in disabilities and deaths, closely correlated to the vaccine rollout, must make the vaccinations a prime suspect.
Until this question has been thoroughly investigated, it is premature and reckless to be talking of using mRNA technology for future prophylactic vaccines. The last Government seemed focused on the business opportunity for the UK, offered by the expansion of use of these technologies, while ignoring potential risks to public health from these products, particularly to the immune and cardiovascular systems.
It is therefore of great concern to learn that babies are now being recruited to a new mRNA vaccine clinical trial against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). This is despite the fact that we still have no basic knowledge of the biodistribution & pharmacokinetics of these gene-based products, or long-term safety data over 10 years or more, which was standard practice prior to the pandemic. Thus, failing to provide an urgent safety review of the Covid-19 vaccines could have major implications for future vaccine safety.
The failure of Covid-19 vaccines to stop viral circulation is now obvious to all. This failure, along with a growing concern about the products’ safety, is undermining public trust in vaccination more generally.
We have written repeatedly to the MHRA, the CMOs, the JCVI, and to your predecessors in No 10, regarding the many risks of rolling these vaccines out to children. Members of the Pandemic Response All Party Parliamentary Group wrote a letter in January 2022, over two years ago, regarding increased all-cause mortality in 15-19-year-old males but failed to receive a commitment to investigate.
The first four signatories on this letter were all asked by Baroness Hallett to provide Witness Statements for Module 4 (Vaccines and Therapeutics) of the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry; these we submitted by January 2024, only to learn that the date for the Module 4 hearings has been inexplicably and disappointingly postponed until January 2025. Moreover, the Inquiry team (see p8) have now stated that they will not look at the full evidence for the safety or efficacy of these products, as it is outside the scope of the Inquiry.
Our written and video statements have all been published at www.peoplesvaccineinquiry.co.uk and, in addition, thousands of UK doctors and health professionals have joined with colleagues across the world to sign The Hope Accord, calling for these products to be suspended and all the vaccine-injured to be properly supported and compensated. To date, the Hope Accord has been signed by 8,628 doctors, health professionals, scientists and academics, plus 47,999 concerned citizens.
The health of the nation’s citizens is of paramount concern and must surely be a high priority for any incoming Prime Minister. We entreat you to apply the precautionary principle regarding the use of these products, which have been linked (in published scientific literature, adverse event databases and real-world epidemiological data) to numerous short- and long-term safety issues, particularly after multiple doses. Pausing their use is the only rational, responsible and morally justifiable course of action.
Conclusions and Requests
- Britain is at a turning point. Will you continue with the mistakes of your predecessors or will you turn a fresh page and commit your government to transparency and honesty with the public?
- We urge you to suspend the booster programme, pending an immediate review into all aspects of Covid vaccine safety, as outlined in our letter to the MHRA more than a year ago.
- In addition, we urge you to instruct the Covid Inquiry properly to examine evidence about the safety and efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines.
The lead authors of this letter would be more than willing to meet you at any time to discuss our concerns more fully. We wish you well in the challenging job you have ahead.
Dr Rosamond Jones, retired Consultant Paediatrician, Children’s Covid Vaccines Advisory Council
Dr Clare Craig, diagnostic pathologist, Health Advisory and Recovery Team
Dr Elizabeth Evans, retired doctor, UK Medical Freedom Alliance
Mr Nick Hunt, retired Civil Servant, Chairman, The Perseus Group
Dr Dean Patterson, Consultant Cardiologist, Doctors for Patients UK
Mr Alex Kriel, The Thinking Coalition
Co-signatories:
Professor Angus Dalgleish, MD, FRCP, FRACP, FRCPath, FMedSci, Emeritus Professor of Oncology, University of London, Principal, Institute for Cancer Vaccines & Immunotherapy
Professor Anthony J Brookes, Professor of Genomics and Health Data Science, University of Leicester
Professor David Livermore, BSc, PhD, retired Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of East Anglia
Professor Dennis McGonagle, PhD, FRCPI, Consultant Rheumatologist, University of Leeds
Professor John Fairclough FRCS FFSEM retired Honorary Consultant Surgeon
Professor Norman Fenton, CEng, CMath, PhD, FBCS, MIET, Emeritus Professor of Risk Information Management, Queen Mary University of London
Professor Paul Goddard, MBBS, MD, FRCR, FBIR, retired Professor of Radiology, University of the West of England
Professor Richard Ennos, MA, PhD. Honorary Professorial Fellow, University of Edinburgh
Professor Roger Watson, FRCP Edin, FRCN, FAAN, Honorary Professor of Nursing, University of Hull
Lord Moonie, MBChB, MRCPsych, MFCM, MSc, retired member of House of Lords, former parliamentary under-secretary of state 2001-2003, former consultant in Public Health Medicine
Dr Abby Astle, MBBChir, BA(Cantab), DCH, DGM, MRCGP, GP Principal, GP Trainer, GP Examiner
Dr Alan Black, MBBS, MSc, DipPharmMed, retired pharmaceutical physician
Dr Alan Mordue, MBChB, FFPH. Retired Consultant in Public Health Medicine & Epidemiology
Dr Ali Ajaz, MBBS, BSc, MRCPsych, PGCert, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist
Dr Ali Haggett, Mental health community work, 3rd sector, former lecturer in the history of medicine
Dr Alison Sabine, MBChB, MRCP, Consultant Rheumatologist
Dr Alistair J Montgomery, MBChB, MRCGP, DRCOG, retired General Practitioner
Dr Andrew Lees, MB BS, MRCGP, DCH, retired General Practitioner
Dr Angela Musso, MD, MRCGP, DRCOG, FRACGP, MFPC, General Practitioner
Dr Angharad Powell, MBChB, BSc(1st class hons), DFSRH, DCP(Ireland), DRCOG, DipOccMed, PgCertNutMed, AFMCP, MRCGP(2008), General Practitioner
Dr Anne Guilding, MBBS, FRCR, Consultant Radiologist
Dr Anne Wynne-Simmons, MBBS, MRCGP, General Practitioner, retired
Dr Aseem Malhotra, Cardiologist, MBChB, MRCP
Dr Ayiesha Malik, MBChB, MRCGP(2014), General Practitioner
Dr Bernard Choi, MBBS, MRCGP, DCH, DRGOG, General Practitioner
Dr Bob Gill, MBChB, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Brian Fitzsimons, MBChB, DipOccMed, FRCGP, General Practitioner, Occupational Health
Dr Carmen Wheatley, DPhil, Orthomolecular Oncology
Dr Caroline Lapworth, MB ChB, General Practitioner
Dr Charlie Sayer, MBBS, FRCR, Consultant Radiologist
Dr Charles Forsyth, MBBS, BSEM, retired Independent Medical Practitioner
Dr Charlie Sayer, MBBS, FRCR, Consultant Radiologist
Dr Chimwemwe Miti, MBChB, MS, MRCOG, Consultant Gynaecologist
Dr Chris Newton, PhD, Biochemist working in immuno-metabolism
Dr Christina Peers, MBBS, DRCOG, DFSRH, FFSRH, Menopause Specialist
Dr Christine Dewbury, MBBS, retired General Practitioner
Dr Christine Suppelt MD FRCS MFHom, Ophthalmic Surgeon & Specialist for Integrated Medicine
Dr Christopher Exley, PhD, FRSB, Bioinorganic Chemist
Dr Cordelia Phelan, Consultant Pathologist
Dr Damian Wilde, PhD, Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Dr David Bramble, MBChB, MRCPsych, MD, Consultant Psychiatrist
Dr David Cartland, MBChB, BMedSci, General practitioner
Dr David Critchley, BSc, PhD in Pharmacology, 32 years’ experience in Pharmaceutical R&D
Dr David Morris, MBChB, MRCP (UK), General Practitioner
Dr Elizabeth Evans, MA(Cantab), MBBS, DRCOG, Retired Doctor
Dr Emma Brierly, MBBS, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Emma Fuller, MBChB, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Francesca Mbow, MD(Italy), MRCGP, DFFP, General Practitioner
Dr Felicity Lillingston, IMD DHS PhD ANP, Doctor, Urgent Care, Research Fellow
Dr Fernando M Gundin, MRCGP (2017), General Practitioner
Dr Gary Sidley, PhD, retired NHS Consultant Psychologist
Dr Geoffrey Maidment, MBBS, DRCOG, MD, FRCP, retired consultant physician
Dr Gerry Quinn, PhD, Postdoctoral researcher in microbiology and immunology
Dr Gillian Breese, BSc, MB ChB, DFFP, DTM&H, General Practitioner
Dr Greta Mushet, MBChB, MRCPsych, retired Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy
Dr Helen Westwood, MBChB, MRCGP, DCH, DRCOG, General Practitioner
Dr Henry Goodall, MBBS, FFOM, retired Consultant Occupational Health Physician, President Society of Occupational Medicine, 2011-12
Dr Ian Bridges, MBBS, retired General Practitioner
Dr James Dyson, MRCS LRCP, MA, retired Medical Practitioner
Dr Janet Menage, MA, MBChB, retired General Practitioner
Dr Jannah van der Pol, iBSc, MBBS, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Jayne LM Donegan, MBBS, DRCOG, DCH, DFFP, MRCGP, Naturopathic Practitioner
Dr Jenny Goodman, MA, MBChB, Ecological Medicine
Dr Jessica Robinson, BSc(Hons), MBBS, MRCPsych, MFHom, Integrative Medicine Doctor
Dr John Flack, BPharm, PhD, Retired Director of Safety Evaluation, Beecham Pharmaceuticals and Senior Vice-president for Drug Discovery SmithKline Beecham
Dr Jon Rogers, MBChB, MRCGP, DRCOG, Retired NHS General Practitioner
Dr Jonathan Eastwood, BSc, MBChB, MRCGP(1994), retired General Practitioner
Dr Jonathan Engler, MBChB, LlB(Hons), DipPharmMed
Dr Julia Piper, FRCGP, BM BS BMedSci DFFP AFMCP DipOccMed DipMedAcc
Dr Julie Maxwell, MBBCh, MRCPCH, retired Community Paediatrician
Dr Kate Goodman, MBChB, BSc, Resigned Specialty Doctor in Elderly Care
Dr Keith Dewbury, MBBS, FRCR, retired Consultant Radiologist
Dr Keith Johnson, BA, DPhil (Oxon), IP Consultant for Diagnostic Testing
Dr Khalid Hamid Dar, MUDr, BSc, Holistic Medical Doctor
Dr Kulvinder S Manik, MBChB, MRCGP, MA(Cantab), LLM, Gray’s Inn
Dr Livia Tossici-Bolt, PhD, retired Clinical Scientist
Dr Lucie Wilk, MD, MRCP, Rheumatologist
Dr Matthew Dennison, MBBS, MRCGP, Dip IBLM, General Practitioner
Dr Matthew Hicks, MBChB, NHS Specialty doctor
Dr Michael Bazlinton, MBCHB MRCGP DCH
Dr Michael D Bell, MBChB, MRCGP, retired General Practitioner
Dr Mohammad Farooq Dar, MBBS, FRCPE, MRCPCh, DCH, retired General Practitioner
Dr Naomi Riddel, MBBCh, MSc, MRCPsych, Consultant Child Psychiatrist
Dr Nick Flatt, BMSc(Hons), MBChB, FRCSEd, FRCA, FFPMRCA, retired Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr Nichola Ling, MBBS, MRCOG, Consultant obstetrician
Dr Noel Thomas, MA, MBChB, DObsRCOG, DTM&H, MFHom, Retired Doctor
Dr Peter Chan, BM, MRCS, MRCGP, NLP, General Practitioner, Functional medicine practitioner
Dr Peter R Blower, PhD, DSc, FRSB, Retired Pharmaceutical Industry Pharmacologist
Dr Rachel Brown, MBChB, LLM, CFMP, MRCPsych
Dr Rachel Nicoll, PhD, Medical researcher
Dr Rajendra Sharma, MBBCh, BAO, LRCP&S(Ire), MFHom, Private Doctor, Medical Director, Dr Sharma Diagnostics
Dr Richard House, PhD, CPsychol, AFBPsS, CertCouns, Chartered Psychologist, former senior lecturer in Psychology and Early Childhood, retired psychotherapist
Dr Richard J. O’Shea. MBBCh, BA(Hons) MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Salmaan Saleem, MBBS, BMedSci, General Practitioner.
Dr Samuel McBride, MBBCh, BAO, BSc, MSc, MRCP (UK) FRCEM, FRCP (Edinburgh), NHS Emergency Medicine & geriatrics
Dr Samuel White, MBChB, MRCGP, Functional Medicine Doctor, former General Practitioner
Dr Sarah Myhill, MBBS, Retired General Practitioner
Dr Scott Mitchell, MBChB, MRCS, Associate Specialist, Emergency Medicine, resigned
Dr Sheena Fraser, MBChB, MRCGP (2003), Dip BSLM, General Practitioner
Dr Shiraz Akram, BDS, Dental Surgeon
Dr Stefanie Williams, MD, Dermatologist
Dr Tanya Klymenko, PhD, FHEA, FIBMS, Senior lecturer in Biomedical Sciences
Dr Theresa Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD, Director, Evidence-Based Medicine Consultancy Ltd, Bath
Dr Timothy Kelly, MBBCh, BSc, NHS doctor
Dr Tom Carnwath, MA, FRCPsych, FRCGP, Consultant Psychiatrist
Dr Victoria Anderson, MBChB, MRCGP, MRCPCH, DRCOG, General Practitioner
Dr Zenobia Storah, MA (Oxon), DClinPsy, CPsychol, Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychologist
Alex Hicks, MEng, MCIPS, Compliance Director (Supply Chain)
Catherine Cassell, RGN, Practice Nurse
Cheryl Grainger, BSc, Pharma Training Consultant
Eshani King BSc (Hons) FCA CTA BFP – Evidence Based Research in Immunology and Health
Fiona Jones, BScHons, DipPreSci, PgCertMed Ed, MFRPSII, FRPharmS, retired Clinical lead pharmacist
Gayle Gerry, BSc(Hons), RGN, NHS registered Nurse
Helen Auburn, Dip ION, MBANT, CNHC, Registered Nutritional Therapist
Ian Humphreys, UKMFA Programme Director
Kaira McCallum, BSc, retired pharmacist, Director of strategy UKMFA
Katherine MacGilchrist, BSc (Hons), MSc (Epidemiology), Former CEO/Systematic Review Director, Epidemica Ltd
James Cook, NHS Registered Nurse, Bachelor of Nursing (Hons), Master of Public Health (MPH)
Jessica Righart, MSc, Senior Biomedical Scientist
Julie Nicholls, LCSP(Phys), IEMT, former RGN, Body-Mind Coach
Lois M Tutton MSc,BDS, Retired Dental Surgeon
Marco Tullio Suadoni, RN, BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing, MSc, Specialist Palliative Care Lead
Michael Cockayne, MSc, PGDip, SCPHNOH, BA, RN, Occupational Health Practitioner
Mr Ahmad K Malik, FRCS(Tr & Orth), Dip Med Sport, Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mr Angus Robertson, BSc(Med Sci), MBChB, FRCS(Ed), FFSEM(UK), Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mr Anthony Hinton, MBChB, FRCS, Consultant ENT surgeon, London
Mr C P Chilton, MBBS, FRCS, Consultant urologist emeritus
Mr David Halpin, MBBS, FRCS, Orthopaedic and trauma surgeon (retired)
Mr Ian F Comaish, MA, BMBCh, FRCOphth, FRANZCO, Consultant ophthalmologist
Mr Ian McDermott, MBBS, MS, FRCS(Tr&Orth), FFSEM(UK), Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mr James Royle, MBChB, FRCS, MMedEd, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon
Mr John Bunni, MBChB (Hons), Dip Lap Surg, FRCS [ASGBI Medal], Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon
Mr Lasantha Wijesinghe, MD, FRCS, FEBVS, Consultant Vascular Surgeon
Mr Malcolm Loudon, MBChB, MD, FRCSEd, FRCS(Gen Surg), MIHM,VR, Consultant Surgeon
Mr Patrick Chong, MBBS, FRCS, Consultant Vascular Surgeon
Natalie Stephenson, BSc (Hons), Audiologist
Rev Dr William J U Philip, MBChB, MRCP, BD, Senior Minister The Tron Church, Glasgow, formerly physician specialising in cardiology
Sarah Waters, BA(Hons), MBACP, Family and adult Psychotherapist
Sophie Gidet, RM, Midwife
Sorrel Scott, Grad Dip Phys, Specialist Physiotherapist in Neurology, 30 years in NHS
Sue Parker Hall, CTA, MSc (Counselling & Supervision), MBACP, EMDR. Psychotherapist
Theresa Ann Mounsey, RM, BSc (hons), Registered Midwife
Wendy Armstrong, Practice Nurse
(NB HART readers or others wishing to add their names to our open letters, please email [email protected] marked FAO Dr Ros Jones)
