Calling it a “dangerous and unethical experiment,” more than 4,000 scientists, doctors, nurses and other professionals signed a letter published Wednesday condemning the British government’s plans to drop most pandemic control measures in England on Monday, July 19.
“We believe this decision is dangerous and premature,” they wrote in a letter to the Lancet medical journal.
“The UK Government must reconsider its current strategy and take urgent steps to protect the public, including children. We believe the government is embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment, and we call on it to pause plans to abandon mitigations on July 19, 2021,” they added.
“Instead, the government should delay complete re-opening until everyone, including adolescents, have been offered vaccination and uptake is high, and until mitigation measures, especially adequate ventilation and spacing are in place in schools. Until then, public health measures must include those called for by WHO (universal mask wearing in indoor spaces, even for those vaccinated),” they wrote.
