Covid experts around the world respond to the UK’s decision to lift remaining restrictions on July 19 in an emergency online summit.

They say no public health officer would recognize this as a strategy.

This article as a tweet thread, including the short video clips of experts making their main points.

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What is UK's plan B if another more transmissible or severe or vaccine evading variant emerges at 100,000 cases a day? The UK by relaxing its restrictions even more at high cases per day encourages new variants including homegrown variants.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The marvelous new vaccines ensure that, with new 2nd and 3rd generation even more effective vaccines on their way.

. Light at the end of the tunnel - we will get out of this pandemic, how quickly we get there is up to us - case of “vaccines and” not “vaccines only”

"That’s what viruses do, they evolve, but we can prevent the emergence of variants by preventing transmission. It’s quite simple. More transmission, more variants. Less transmission, less variants."

Dr Tedros (Director General of the WHO)

(click to watch on Youtube)

There are billions of vaccine doses coming along later this year. Biden says he will give excess doses to other countries, so the US is expected to be a huge donor later this year. Even if the US fully vaccinates everyone, adults and children, twice over, now and in the fall, the US has secured so many doses for 2021 that it will be able to fully vaccinate 1.3 billion people outside the US as well.

We have major bottlenecks with producing the vaccines, but the WHO say that it doesn't have to be like this. We already have millions of extra doses of COVID today because of the early technology transfer by AstraZenecs at the end of last year. This empowers the rest of the world to make the doses, which greatly increases vaccine supply and helps to end the pandemic fast. Novavax is also in the process of transferring technology in the same way, ready for when it gets approved. However most vaccine manufacturers are not doing this and as a result we are missing out on many millions of doses the world could have if they did facilitate technology transfer.

The US has enough doses to vaccinate its entire population twice over and have enough left to fully vaccinate 1.3 billion people outside the USA by the end of 2021. It's not going to run out of doses. As most of you will know, Biden has committed now to roll out 200 million doses to the USA in his first 100 days in office. The USA is making huge steps forward with its own population.