The Hallett Inquiry - Evidence given on 26 September 2024

Professor Whitty's responsibilities in the Covid saga

What does the CMO do, you may ask? It was not easy to find a list of responsibilities; the best we can do so far is this:

So, to sum up, the CMO is the country's number one public health authority. He/she advises the government on public health matters. He/she is a physician. He/she is independent, well, sort of, as his/her career and honours depend on ministers, as events have shown.

His/her advice is sought as and when but is not binding.

He/she may or may not toe the government line.

So, under his advisory stewardship, the following took place before, during and after the Covid pandemic:

• A public health emergency was declared based on unverified data

• Failure to observe what was going on in other countries (“ahead of the curve”)

• Failure to stop or dissociate himself from politicians talking nonsense (“zero Covid” and “flattening the sombrero”)

• Failure to ask questions on the verification of “cases”

• Failure to verify the reliability of testing

• Failure to put in place mechanisms for the separat…