The ex-special adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, has cracked down on his handling of the pandemic, accusing him of initially aiming for "
collective immunity
", three days before a hearing before a parliamentary committee which promises to be explosive for the government.
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In a series of tweets published Saturday evening, May 22, Dominic Cummings claimed that when the pandemic emerged in early 2020, the government's plan was to let the virus spread so that a majority of the population would develop resistance after contracting disease.
This strategy of "
collective immunity
" was only abandoned in early March after Downing Street was warned it would lead to "
disaster
", he said.
Health Minister Matt Hancock's denials on this subject are "
bullshit,
" added Dominic Cummings.
Government denial
Interviewed by the BBC on Sunday 23 May, Interior Minister Priti Patel said that collective immunity had “
absolutely not
” been the government's initial objective.
This was "
never
" a strategy put forward by the government at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, added the director general of the British Health Security Agency, Jenny Harries, on the same media.
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Dominic Cummings' attacks give a foretaste of his hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, May 26, before a parliamentary committee tasked with studying the government's response to the pandemic. The government is preparing to receive a hail of criticism from the adviser who left Downing Street at the end of 2020, a rocky start that has since turned into a settling of scores. For the former adviser, there would have been no need for containment in the United Kingdom if the country had been "
well prepared
" and had "
competent officials
".
