Boris Johnson will be giving evidence at the UK’s Covid Inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic and the then-government’s response on Wednesday 6 December. However, many people are expecting little more than more spin, lies, and excuses from the former PM. Not least among this is campaign group Long Covid Advocacy – who is summing up Johnson’s appearance as “What Boris Inquiry Bollocks Next?”
Long Covid: ‘bollocks’ said Johnson
As the Financial Times reported:
Johnson will be forced to revisit and explain how his government responded to coronavirus on Wednesday as he appears before the UK’s official inquiry into the pandemic.
The chaos at the heart of Britain’s handling of Covid-19 has been laid bare in recent weeks, with testimonies describing a “toxic” culture in Downing Street and how Johnson was “bamboozled” by scientific data.
Allies of the former prime minister said he would apologise for mistakes made by his administration but would robustly defend its successes. Johnson’s team is aware he faces many serious claims, but believes he has answers that will help rehabilitate his reputation.
‘Rehabilitating’ Johnson’s reputation is a ridiculously gargantuan task – not least in the eyes of people living with long Covid, and other post-viral illnesses like myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). This is because the public found out earlier in the inquiry that Johnson referred to the idea of post-viral illness as “bollocks”. As the Canary reported at the time:
Anthony Metzer KC is the barrister representing the groups Long Covid Kids, Long Covid SOS, and Long Covid Support. During the opening day of the second module of the Covid Inquiry, he presented on behalf of the groups – and made a staggering revelation. Metzer told the public inquiry:
“In October 2020, while the Department of Health and Social Care [DHSC] was publishing guidance on Long Covid and called for recognition and support for people with long Covid, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrawled in capitals that long Covid was ‘bollocks’.
“Mr Johnson has admitted in his witness statement that he didn’t believe Long Covid truly existed, dismissing it as ‘Gulf War Syndrome stuff’”.
He summed up by saying:
“The UK’s senior most decision makers were dismissing, diminishing and disbelieving the very existence and risk of Long Covid”.
So, Long Covid Advocacy has hit out ahead of whatever ‘bollocks’ Johnson will try to spin.
No protection, no warning, and now no cure
It’s launched a hard-hitting image for Johnson’s Covid Inquiry appearance:
The group said in a statement:
It is estimated that nearly two million people have long Covid due to a dismissal of its existence at the highest echelons of power.
There was:
- No Protection – we were not given the tools or information to protect ourselves – respirator masks, ventilation guidance, air filters.
- No Warning – we saw no public health messaging.
- No Cure – there is no effective treatment or cure for long Covid.
We are seeing the same mistakes where the medical & political establishment ‘poo poo’ & dismiss certain illnesses, such as Gulf War syndrome & ME, that they don’t understand. This needs to change.
This is a multi system, biological & devastating disease. It has a quality of life equivalent to Parkinson’s and worse than stage 4 lung cancer.
We need the political establishment to get real and act.
Again, as the Canary previously reported and the Covid Inquiry noted, post-viral illness was entirely predictable – yet Johnson and the government chose to ignore the threat. However, at the heart of this is the devastating impact the PM’s decisions have had on people now living with the disease.
Ravi Veriah Jacques lives with long Covid. They said:
Where once my life traversed several countries, it now consists of several rooms. Long Covid has stolen almost everything I loved – performing the violin, jumping into relationships, producing academic work, seeing old friends. I’m almost three years in. This cannot be the rest of my life.
Amy Boylan said similar:
My life stopped when I caught Covid in March 2020. It filled my blood with persistent clots and badly damaged my immune system. I can’t walk or work, care for myself or my kids. There are millions like me, globally. We desperately need research and treatment to restart our lives.
Chronic illness: decades of dismissal
Moreover, people living with ME – which is very similar to long Covid and which nearly 50% of people living with the latter meet the clinical criteria for – have seen this all before. ME is generally a post-viral illness. Like that and Gulf War syndrome, because of – yet often also in spite of – the lack of knowledge on just why people get it, many medical professionals have psychologised ME. So, Long Covid patients having to endure medical professionals and the state dismissing their illness was sadly predictable.
The Canary wrote in November 2020 that:
Long Covid patients may get a similar whitewashing of their illness as people with ME historically have.
Kirstie Sivapalan lives with ME. She said:
Living with ME, I find it both hopeful and frustrating there is more focus on Long Covid research. I believe we will get long-awaited answers that the medical community can no longer dismiss, but patients with ME are still the poor cousins. It’s disheartening to watch research repeated, heralded as new, and decades of experience ignored.
No more long Covid bollocks. People want their lives back.
So, Long Covid Advocacy and the community are calling for:
- Urgent moonshot biomedical funding – £100m a year as stated by the Coronavirus All Party Parliamentary Group.
- A ReCOVer-like fast-tracked treatment based study.
- Prevention to stop endless reinfection – monitoring, filtration, and ventilation legislation.
Claire Higham is the founder of Long Covid Advocacy. She said in a statement:
Catastrophic mistakes are being exposed in the UK Covid Inquiry that led to mass death, disability, and devastation. Yet we are not out of the woods. People are still not recovered, still dying, and still contracting long Covid. We need prevention, public health messaging, and an emergency research Moonshot for long Covid based on firm biological principles.
Of course, a lot of this could have been avoided if Johnson hadn’t thought post-viral illness was “bollocks”. Whether or not he will have the self-awareness to admit his arrogance at the Covid Inquiry is debatable. However, for nearly two million people, he’s already done the damage.
Featured image and additional image via Long Covid Advocacy
