Top medic Nick Coatsworth said the harsh lockdowns and school closures of the Covid pandemic era were not ‘evidence-based’ as he also took brutal swipes at former Victorian premier Dan Andrews.
Dr Coatsworth, who was Deputy Chief Medical Officer during the pandemic, was responding to the Covid-19 Response Inquiry Report released on Tuesday, which found heavy-handed measures caused Australians to lose faith in health authorities.
He said even though the report’s brief was to focus on federal action it had ‘a very strong message for state premiers’.
‘It is, “You need to make your decisions evidence-based as much as the federal government does”,’ he told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.
‘Everything from taping playgrounds shut in Melbourne to telling people they are going to catch Covid at the MCG, none of that was particularly evidence-based but persisted for a very long time into 2021.
‘I am terribly sorry to say but if you are sitting down in Victoria there is some soul-searching to be done about the support that was given to those policies.’
The inquiry report, by Robyn Kruk, Professor Catherine Bennett and Dr Angela Jackson, said state ‘measures enacted under the Biosecurity Act were restrictive’.
‘Their broader economic, social and mental health and human rights impacts were not always understood or considered,’ the report states.
Leading Australian doctor Nick Coatsworth said those sacked for refusing Covid vaccines were owed an apology if governments were to regain trust lost during the pandemic
‘The pandemic response should have shifted from a reliance on the “better safe than sorry” precautionary principle… to a risk-based approach grounded in evidence.’
The report found that, while National Cabinet’s Australian Health Protection Principal Committee ‘throughout the pandemic did not recommend school closures’, this was done, particularly in Victoria which sent kids home for months.
This contributed to a devastating effect on youth mental health with one study finding more than 50 per cent of children in Victoria reported symptoms of depression and 25 per cent reported symptoms of anxiety.
‘There were higher risks for students with pre-existing mental health conditions, but 20 per cent experienced mental ill health for the first time,’ the report said, noting spikes in self harm, particularly for teen girls, as well as eating disorders.
This led Dr Coatsworth to question the recent appointment of Mr Andrews as chair of youth mental health not-for-profit agency Orygen.
‘If you were the board of Orygen surely you should have known these statistics and thought twice about appointing the person responsible,’ he said.
Dr Coatsworth told Channel Nine’s Today program on Wednesday he thought those who lost their jobs for refusing Covid vaccines were owed an apology.
‘When we, I’m looking at myself here because I was part of this apparatus, were pushing vaccine mandates and people were losing their jobs because they weren’t taking the vaccine, that really did erode trust,’ Dr Coatsworth said.
‘And I think if there’s if there’s one thing that we take from this very lengthy report – and, you know, I think I’ve done it on this show – is (we should) apologise to the people who lost their jobs because of vaccine mandates.
Dr Coatsworth was particularly scathing of the prolonged draconian measures taken Victoria and then premier Dan Andrews (pictured)
‘If we start by doing that, if more people than just me perhaps say that, then we can start the road to rebuilding trust amongst those people that no longer maybe even have trust in our childhood vaccination program.’
The inquiry report also noted an increase in domestic violence during the pandemic.
‘A significant number of women and children experienced violence for the first time, and… there was also an increase in the severity of violence during the pandemic,’ it said.
Sadly this was no surprise, Dr Coatsworth said.
‘I remember this being discussed in the media when schools closed down, about those for whom home is not a safe place,’ he said.
‘If one is going to confine, or the cops are forcing you to stay in your own home, then you better have a way to help those people.
‘That was not a surprise outcome, people knew that would be outcome at the time.’
Dr Coatsworth said although the ‘effectiveness of the two-course Covid vaccine regime was astounding’, those who were harmed by the jabs have been treated poorly, often by dismissive doctors.
‘This speaks to the issue of trust, can we rebuild the trust of Australians that however we do the reporting doesn’t make people feel that they are gas-lit, or their doctors are afraid for their registration or their doctor is just not listening to them,’ he said.
Dr Coatworth noted that the taping up of playgrounds and closure of schools during the pandemic was not particularly ‘evidence-based’
‘How are we going to do that and restore confidence? The injury compensation schemes were insufficient.’
Dr Coatsworth admitted it would be difficult to ever again bring in vaccine mandates.
‘If we ever do again bring in mandates, they can be shifted and changed based on what the evidence is,’ he said.
‘The immediate question is what we can we do to regain the trust of a relatively small but important percentage of people that have lost faith in our vaccine program.’
As someone who was at the heart of Australia’s Covid response, Dr Coatsworth said the report had not given him cause for regret.
‘It hasn’t made me rethink anything at all,’ he said.
‘What it has done is reinforced some of the things I have been saying publicly since mid-2021.
‘It’s important not the see the report as a tick or cross against decisions. It’s a great blueprint to regain trust and do it better next time.’
Dr Coatsworth said those who opposed prolonged draconian measures, including at times himself, were too readily drowned out.
‘This report calls for open debate and transparent evidence gathering,’ he said.
‘We need to start by not shouting down and ridiculing the people who start to question what we are doing.
‘Let’s not cast slurs on people who have a different view on how we should be doing things.’
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