Coronavirus: Top scientist calls for greater transparency over SAGE meetings
Professor David Salisbury spoke after it was revealed the prime minister's chief adviser sat in on the committee's discussions.
Monday 27 April 2020 22:00, UK
The public is unable to judge the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic because of secrecy on a key advisory committee, according to a former senior official.
The prime minister has repeatedly said the strategy is based on "the science".
But the government has withheld the names of experts on the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE).
The minutes have also yet to be published, even though the committee has been meeting twice a week since January.
Professor David Salisbury, who oversaw vaccination policy during the swine flu pandemic a decade ago and attended SAGE meetings, exclusively told Sky News that people should have the right to know.
Professor Salisbury said: "Why should we not know?
"The answer that we are protecting their privacy is no longer a realistic one.
"My name is in the phone book. Why do we want such secrecy that we don't know who is helping to shape these decisions that are affecting our lives so intrusively?"
The professor shared his views as Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser, said a partial list of SAGE members will be published "shortly" after concerns about a lack of transparency.
He added that only the experts who are "happy to have their names published" will be made public.
It was revealed over the weekend that the prime minister's adviser Dominic Cummings sat in on the SAGE committee's discussions, raising questions about his influence on the advice to government.
Professor Salisbury said transparency is crucial.
"The chair has the responsibility on whether he or she will accept interventions and how those will be handled.
"If the chair has allowed a person who is not a member of the committee to take part then they have to be prepared to answer afterwards what influence that intervention had on the process."
Professor Salisbury said the government should be seen to be taking advice from a broad range of scientists before deciding on policy.
The prominence of pandemic modellers from Imperial College London has been criticised by other teams of scientists.
But there is no certainty with computer simulations, Professor Salisbury warned.
"One should be really cautious when the assumptions are more powerful than the data," he said.
"Respected scientists have different views.
"That diversity is important because it says this (issue) is really difficult.
"It's the responsibility of the politicians to translate the advice into the political recommendations that affect our lives."
Professor Salisbury also told Sky News that there are no guarantees that experimental vaccines now in clinical trials will work and can be produced in the scale needed.
"We have this fundamental problem of supply and demand.
"I fear that countries will say: 'We have to protect our own population first and not allow export.'
"We have to worry about equity, access to vaccine and nationalistic behaviour.
"If you have a philosophy that says 'America first' and you have a lot of production in America I can anticipate the temptation will be to vaccinate America first.
"Europe has large vaccine manufacturing capacity and I hope that does not prevail in Europe."
:: Listen to the Daily podcast on , , ,
Sir Patrick told a briefing for science journalists on Monday that the identities of the experts are usually revealed after an emergency is over.
However, he added: "But I believe that we should be more prepared to publish names sooner, and intend to do so shortly.
"So we will be publishing names of those that are happy to have their names published."
He added that the group would also be releasing a list of the documents, and eventually the documents themselves, that have fed into SAGE meetings.