Chief Medical Officer says initial messaging on Covid shielding ‘could have been more nuanced’

Initial messaging around shielding at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic could have been more nuanced, Northern Ireland’s chief medical officer has said.Close to the start of the outbreak of the pandemic in the UK in March 2020, scores of people who were considered to be clinically extremely vulnerable were advised to remain at home to protect themselves from the virus.Sir Michael McBride, who still serves as Northern Ireland’s chief medical officer (CMO), was speaking as he gave evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

During a full-day appearance, Sir Michael was asked with the benefit of hindsight whether he felt he had got all the decisions right.He responded saying ultimately that would be for the inquiry to determine.“I think there were some issues because of the pace of events, I think there were certainly some issues in relation to communications, for instance to those shielding in terms of how we conveyed information, how we conveyed information in a balanced way which allowed people to make choices about what was important to them, to empower them,” he said.“It became very difficult later on when the harm-and-benefit analysis changed to provide them with assurance, to the population of people who had been shielding who were clinically extremely vulnerable and looking back, I think some of the initial messaging around that could have been more nuanced.“That was something which I was concerned about and was concerned really from May 2020 when I had commissioned some research to seek the views of people who had been shielding in terms of the impact it was having on them.”Sir Michael, along with some of Northern Ireland’s past and present leaders and ministers, previously gave evidence to the last module of the inquiry looking at governance.The inquiry is currently examining the impact of the pandemic on the health and social care system in Northern Ireland as well as the NHS in Great Britain.

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