When not advising the Scottish government on its pandemic response, Devi Sridhar is being interviewed by TV news channels, writing opinion articles for The Guardian or . Throughout, she has been unafraid to call out governments when she thinks their response to covid-19 has been wrong. She tells聽快猫短视频聽why scientists aren鈥檛 to blame for lockdowns, and why we shouldn鈥檛 become complacent about the virus鈥檚 toll.
When did you realise this was going to be a global health crisis?
It was when Wuhan went into lockdown. You realised that if China, with its resources and surveillance systems, was struggling, then how would poor countries manage? You could see that this was unlikely to be like other events.
Advertisement
Has the pandemic changed perceptions of science?
On the positive side we see more聽collaboration and sharing. On the flipside, there鈥檚 a lot of anger towards scientists for the lockdown measures, for the loss people have experienced. My point is: it鈥檚 not scientists. If your house is on fire, you don鈥檛 blame the firefighters.
What has the pandemic taught us about public health?
If you look at death rates per cases, parts of the world have really low death rates. It鈥檚 due to their health system being able to cope, but also the underlying health of their population. You do better with covid if you鈥檙e healthier. I hope we鈥檒l now think more about the layers of protection we give people, not just vaccines and testing, but [improving] their underlying health.
Is now a good time to win some of the UK鈥檚 old public health battles, like obesity?
Definitely. What has been fantastic is people have realised how much they can do locally outside. Even in the brutal Scottish winter, people were outside. We also saw how restrictions and covid hit poor people harder. How do we address that inequality? It鈥檚 not enough to聽tell people to eat better and exercise more. They have to be able to afford it and have time to do it.
Should countries that have pursued a zero covid-19 approach pivot to a strategy of full vaccination?
That鈥檚 where they鈥檙e going. I don鈥檛 see this as a bad move. Imagine if New Zealand vaccinates everyone and escapes the pandemic with, say, less than 50 deaths. Their playbook worked. They bought time for a vaccine, in a way that saved economies and lives.
I get people saying: 鈥淵ou鈥檝e U-turned, you were all about zero covid.鈥� But if you鈥檙e building a house, and you don鈥檛 have tools, you build a house as best you can. If all of a sudden you get more tools 鈥� and now we have a vaccine and therapeutics 鈥� then you build a different kind of house.
On the subject of people commenting on your opinions, how have you coped with being in the limelight through the pandemic?
I see it as part of my job. Have I got everything right? No. Hopefully I鈥檝e gotten more right than wrong. What people say of you on social media is not reflective of real life. When people define themselves by social media, problems occur. I聽define myself by: am I doing good聽science, do my peers think what I鈥檓 saying is accurate?
Should restrictions in England be lifted on 21 June?
If the government postpones the lifting of restrictions by two more weeks after 21 June, how many more people can have second doses, first doses? That should be聽the debate. 快猫短视频s are not聽saying lockdown forever, we鈥檙e saying [wait] two more weeks. Hold, and support those businesses [that stay closed for聽longer].
How well prepared is the world for the next pandemic?
The one thing we won鈥檛 see is complacency. The areas of the world that did better 鈥� it鈥檚 because they had previous experience of what infectious diseases can do if you don鈥檛 move quickly.
The big thing that鈥檚 going to be聽looked at are the [which advise against travel bans]. The big question for聽me is how to stop exporting viruses when they appear. That鈥檚 still a debate we鈥檙e not having.
Do you think the end is in sight?
For rich countries, I think the worst is behind us. I鈥檓 worried about low and middle-income countries. This is going to end up as a classic global health issue, where rich countries forget about it but it continues to take a major toll in poor settings.
But science is racing ahead with the [universal coronavirus] vaccine, and there鈥檚 been huge technology leaps towards mRNA vaccines, [which is good news in our fight against] malaria and HIV. It might be that in 50 years, kids are not dying from malaria because we can vaccinate them. There might be ways we emerge from this in a better way.
