19 July: Could Britain’s 'freedom day' actually spark disaster in the world?

Freedom day couldn’t come any sooner for people in the UK, but over a thousand experts believe that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s strategy could wreak havoc on the entire world. His plan to lift essential restrictions needed to curb the spread of the virus has been considered disastrous and ‘unethical’.

Unethical experiment

Over 1,200 scientists backed a letter published in the journal Lancet, warning that this ‘experiment’ could allow vaccine-resistant variants to develop. The letter read:

Preliminary modelling data suggest the government's strategy provides fertile ground for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants. This would place all at risk, including those already vaccinated, within the UK and globally.

While vaccines can be updated, this requires time and resources, leaving many exposed in the interim. Spread of potentially more transmissible escape variants would disproportionately affect the most disadvantaged in our country and other countries with poor access to vaccines.

Delaying freedom day

According to these experts, the government should delay the re-opening until all adults and adolescents have been fully vaccinated. An emergency summit called All the Citizens, was held at noon today (16 July) with several top government advisors from New Zealand, Israel, and Italy to discuss the consequences of reopening the country and they’re urging the government to reconsider their decision to scrap mandatory rules like social distancing and the wearing of masks.

Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, a clinical epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London who took part in the summit said:

The world is watching the current avoidable crisis unfold in the UK.

She then tweeted:

Let’s be under no illusions – we are in a country where our government is taking steps to maximally expose our young to a virus that causes chronic illness in many. Our govt is ending all protections for our children including isolation of contacts of cases in schools & bubbles.