Mark Woolhouse: We must follow the Swedish model

In this article for The Telegraph, Mark Woolhouse, chair of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh and member of the UK’s SPI-M and Scotland’s COVID-19 Advisory Group, slams the government’s refusal to lift lockdowns. He says, “It is profoundly disappointing that six months into this pandemic, having rejected every alternative proposal, we keep coming back to lockdown, a strategy that is visibly failing around the world.”

Woolhouse cautions the government from returning to harsh lockdowns and stresses the need to focus on minimizing disruption to health care provision, education, and businesses, as well as protecting the elderly and the frail.

Woolhouse also says that if lockdowns are to be implemented again, it must be time limited, and some ground rules must be made. Children and outdoor activities must be unhampered, and a clear plan of action and response must be formulated. Lastly, Wooldhouse says that waiting for a vaccine must not be made as a long term strategy. He says that Sweden was successful at educating their citizens in how they can manage the risks and prevent infections independently, so these solutions should work.

Editor’s Note: Anyone with the right state of mind will see that simply waiting for a vaccine is not a good strategy for eradicating. For one, there is no guarantee on when it will be safe for widespread use [see A touted COVID-19 vaccine has already harmed people, AstraZeneca pauses clinical trials due to safety issue, Expect failure and adverse reactions with coronavirus vaccine]. Second, many countries in the world have been able to control the spread of the virus without it [read Lancet: 19 countries have suppressed community transmission of coronavirus, The epidemic is over in Sweden]. Why is there suddenly a renewed push to wait for the vaccine before reopening societies? Such a call is based on fear, and lacks scientific evidence. Scientists who continue to push for vaccines and lockdowns are not doing it to protect the public – they are doing it to ensure profit for Big Pharma [seeAlternative views concerning the COVID-19 vaccine and Vaccines: Trojan Horses for Global Sterilization and Surveillance].

While we may be labeled as “conspiracy theorists” for adding that last sentence, we are confident that those who seek for the truth will see beyond the smear campaign. There is no sense in waiting for a vaccine for COVID-19 because fast tracked vaccines are unsafe. There is no guarantee when any of them will be found to be successful. Lockdowns do not work. Science supports this, and experts are now speaking out against oppressive COVID-19 policies [Filipino doctors: Lift all lockdowns and allow our people to begin to rebuild their lives].

What does work is understanding how viruses behave and developing strategies which are targeted and health-centered. And the science shows us that the SARS-CoV-2 behaves like other coronaviruses [It is time to stop our continued self-destruction]. We can manage it with better health care systems, expanded information campaigns, and targeted quarantines.

If authorities or experts from your country are saying other wise, check their backgrounds. What have they got to lose when lockdowns are lifted and vaccines do not sell?