With case rates falling and Omicron (hopefully) in decline, it’s a good time to remember some of the more hysterical predictions about the last Covid variant. For the South African doctor who discovered the Omicron strain has today given an interview to German newspaper Welt in which she reveals she was ‘pressured’ into describing the variant as more dangerous than it really is.
Dr Angelique Coetzee was one of the first to report the new variant in November last year and said it caused ‘mild’ symptoms for those in her country. But she claims she was told by scientists and politicians from around the globe that her description was wrong – and specifically references Britain as being one of those countries which tried to discourage her findings. Discussing the response of Western countries to the variant, she replied:
They definitely overreacted. When we tried to argue that it was a mild disease, because of the number of mutations, everyone said that wasn’t true. People didn’t want to believe it could be mild. You have to listen to the science, but you have to take into account the clinical picture that the doctors describe – what they see, because they are the first point of contact. And then both have to be reconciled. You always have to keep the balance between the clinical picture and the science – that didn’t happen here.
Coetzee, who is also the chair of the South African Medical Association, reveals she ‘said at one point – because I was just tired of it – was: In South Africa this is a mild illness, but in Europe it is a very serious one. That’s what your politicians wanted to hear.’ Claiming ‘I will not be silenced’ she was then asked by Welt for where the pressure to amp up fears of Omicron came from.
I don’t take part in political struggles. But yes, I have been criticised by some of your (the European, ed.) countries. In the Netherlands, in the UK, scientists asked: “How can you explain that it’s a mild disease? It’s a serious illness. Look at the mutations.” My reports have thrown them off track. In a pandemic, you also have to look at what is happening at the grassroots level. The general practitioners who treat the sick every day must be asked what they experience, how the clinical picture presents itself.
In a subsequent interview with Australia’s Daily Telegraph, Coetzee doubled down on her comments, saying:
Because of all of Covid’s mutations, all of these scientists and politicians who aren’t from South Africa were contacting me telling me I was wrong when I spoke out, that it was a serious disease… they were telling me I had no idea what I was talking about, they kept attacking me. In South Africa it is a lighter disease, but in Europe it has been a serious, serious illness, which is what the politicians want me to say. There has been a lot of pressure from European scientists and politicians who have said ”Please don’t say it is a mild illness”.
Coetzee now appears to have been proven right on all this. Something for the UK government Covid inquiry to consider perhaps when it investigates what went wrong throughout the pandemic?
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