Covid, ‘model’ Sweden accused: “A tragic failure”

Sweden’s strategy against Covid was a “failure”. This was confirmed by a scientific study carried out two years after the first infections and published in the journal ‘Humanities & Social Sciences Communications’ via Nature.com. According to the report – made by a team of scientists, journalists and doctors – Sweden was well equipped to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic from becoming serious. During 2020, however, the country recorded death rates from Sars-CoV-2 virus ten times higher than neighboring Norway. Not only that: it would have been ascertained that many elderly people were given morphine instead of oxygen, that children were used to spread the virus and that the Swedish population was kept in the dark about even the most basic anti-contagion regulations. “We argue that a scientific methodology has not been followed by the main authorities in charge – and by responsible politicians – with alternative narratives considered valid, resulting in arbitrary political decisions”, the study reads, which among the reasons for the failure highlights the fact that ” in 2014, the Public Health Agency was merged with the Institute for Infectious Disease Control and the first major decision made by the new head, Johan Carlson, was to fire and transfer the authority’s six professors to Karolinska Institutet, effectively emptying the Agency of the necessary skills and experience “to deal with a health emergency like that of Covid. “The Swedish pandemic strategy seemed aimed at achieving natural herd immunity and avoiding a shutdown of society. The Public Health Agency has labeled the advice of national scientists and international authorities as extreme positions, with the result that the media and the political bodies have accepted their policy. “Hence the heavier accusations:” The Swedish people have been kept in the dark about basic facts such as the possibility of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which asymptomatic individuals can be contagious and that masks protect both the wearer and others “. Furthermore, “many elderly people have been given morphine instead of oxygen despite the available supplies, ending their lives.” “If Sweden is to do better in future pandemics – reads the abstract of the publication – the scientific method must be re-established, including within the Public Health Agency. It would probably make a big difference if a separate and independent Institute for Infectious Disease Control were recreated. We recommend that Sweden initiate a self-critical process about its political culture and lack of accountability of decision makers to avoid future failures, as happened with the COVID-19 pandemic “