Can the Covid Inquiry be trusted to hold the government to account?
The Covid-19 Inquiry was set up last year with the aim of scrutinising the decisions made by the government during the pandemic, so that the same mistakes are not made again. It was formed with a promise to keep the voices of the bereaved at the centre of its hearings and, crucially, to remain independent of the government.
As a patient-led movement we know from the experiences of our patient leaders that Covid-19 vaccine nationalism had devastating impacts. It has contributed to terrible health outcomes here in the UK, as well as directly leading to the preventable loss of lives abroad. Take the example of Izzie, a cystic fibrosis patient who is still shielding after three years, or Sakina, who lost her father to Covid in Tanzania after he couldn’t access the vaccine in 2021.
The decisions by our government - that the Covid-19 Inquiry is set to question - had impacts far beyond our circles. So we wanted a chance to tell our stories to the Inquiry. Not only was our application to be a core participant of the Inquiry rejected, but the listening exercise set up to receive stories was commissioned to be handled by a company that has worked with the Cabinet Office over the course of the pandemic. M&C Saatchi/23 Red have worked closely with the cabinet during the pandemic around their hygiene messaging, and also have current contracts with various government departments.
It is well established that the UK Government has always had close relationships with the big pharma industry and have safeguarded their profits at the expense of lives here and abroad. But now it’s clear that health profiteering corporations' influence extends to the Inquiry too. These revelations have shaken our trust in the Inquiry’s genuine desire to interrogate how the government has impacted the lives of our patient leaders, and so many others across the country and indeed the world.
The Inquiry urgently needs to provide answers. How will these contracted organisations be able to scrutinise and critique the government and its policies if they rely on it for an income? We are asking the Inquiry to respond to the following demands:
End the Inquiry’s contract with 23Red and replace 23Red with a company that is experienced in consulting community groups and does not have any conflicts of interest in this work. When a third party is contracted in the Inquiry, information about the decision-making process should be made publicly available.
Improve the means by which information about the Inquiry is communicated to bereaved families and other affected communities to ensure that opportunities to engage in the Inquiry are not missed.
Create a more direct avenue for engagement of bereaved families and other affected communities, through which their voices are valued as evidence not merely representation.
Hire a Community Engagement Officer to ensure the Inquiry has sufficient capacity to deliver on the above recommendations.
The Covid Inquiry was supposed to, at the very least, be able to acknowledge the loss of life and the significant role that the government has played in those losses. Awarding the listening exercise tenders to companies that have played a role in the Government’s messaging is grossly inappropriate, and lays bare the hypocrisy of the Inquiry’s role in scrutinising the Government while ignoring the lived experiences of our patient leaders.
Alongside STOPAIDS, we wrote to Baroness Hallett - chair of the Inquiry - setting out these concerns and demands, but 20 days later we are still waiting for a response…
This silence speaks volumes. But we will not stop working to expose the corrupt and dangerous links between the government - with its close links to big pharmaceuticals - and the Inquiry. Too many lives depend on it.