March 4, 2022

expert reaction to SAGE not expecting to meet on COVID-19 on a regular basis but standing ready if required

Media reports that SAGE are no longer expecting to meet on COVID-19 on a regular basis but are standing ready if required.

Prof John Edmunds, Professor in the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

“It is, in my opinion, entirely appropriate that SAGE stands down at this moment.  With very high levels of immunity in the population – largely as a result of the hugely successful vaccination programme – and new and improved treatments and therapeutics coming on stream we are now in a completely different situation to the one that we were in when SAGE first started to meet about COVID.  Although there is still much to learn and continuing uncertainty about the future incidence of disease, the need to assess the evidence and summarise it for policy-makers is now less urgent.  Let’s hope that it stays that way.”

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www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19

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