In 2021, HART published a review of the evidence for asymptomatic transmission. The concept of asymptomatic transmission formed the foundation for the belief that lockdown was necessary and might work and for mask wearing and amplified the atmosphere of fear with the idea that anyone could be a threat.
Whilst masks are a successful psychological tool to remind the public to remain alert, they are not effective in preventing the community spread of disease.
We are now well over two years into the Covid pandemic and heading into summer. At this point the Government has long-since dropped all the Covid mandates and told the public that we must “learn to live with Covid”; hospitality venues, bars and theatres are full of people socialising and enjoying themselves; face masks are now a far rarer sight in shops and on public transport; and there are more smiles and spontaneous hugs being seen in public.
For those of us who have spent the last two years surveying unfolding events in dismay, these past few months have been a strange time. We witnessed the greatest imposition of restricted civil liberties ever seen in peacetime and observed with disbelief the supine (sometimes enthusiastic) response of media, political ‘opposition’, most institutions and public bodies, even in the face of ever-increasing evidence of the enormous societal cost.
Ethical concerns arising from the Government’s use of covert psychological ‘nudges’ in their COVID-19 communications strategy.
The musician Billy Bragg recently disclosed his reason for wearing a mask: ‘I don’t want anyone here to think that I’m a Tory’.
Decades of evidence on viral seasonality, acquired immunity, prior immunity are being ignored, with those in charge claiming that the virus will wreak havoc if we go about our normal lives. Most people agree that, on some level, the rules don’t make any sense. And yet still they remain.
Child vaccine trials paused
The trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine in children has been paused while a possible link with blood clots in adults is investigated. Given that the phase 3 adult vaccine trials to establish long-term safety data are on-going and are not due to conclude until late 2022/early 2023, the question remains why were trials in children ever started? The risks to children from COVID-19 remain extremely low and any suggestion that children should be vaccinated to protect adults is ethically highly questionable.
HART’s position remains that it is unnecessary, unethical and should be strongly discouraged until long-term safety data in adults are complete. HART would also remind regulators, the media and politicians that these are experimental vaccines, without full regulatory approval but issued under emergency waivers. It is vital that data is collected and rigorous scrutiny of vaccine effects is completed and letters such as this one in The BMJ must surely be followed up as a matter of urgency…
