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Government Wasted £1.2 Billion on Unused Covid Antivirals With No Evidence They Work

by Dr Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson
31 January 2024 5:00 PM

When the pharma and Government complex created the influenza market with the help of the usual modellers, they produced the requirement for an antiviral stockpile. They went about this by creating the Bird F-word (flu) feardemic (remember that?) in 2005-2006. As Influenza H5N1, the ‘bird flu’ agent, seemed to be active in Southeast Asia, they asked how an outbreak could be contained swiftly to give time for vaccines to be produced (six to nine months at the time). 

The answer was the miraculous locally available antivirals in large quantities which could be deployed rapidly to douse transmission. In an earlier article we reported how modellers’ predictions that you could prevent an outbreak by ‘zapping’ the infection within a circumscribed area, so long as drug supplies could be available locally or reasonably quickly. This meant creating stockpiles of antivirals. Once the stockpiles were in place, the strategy was to use them while you waited for the wild virus to be isolated and for vaccines to be produced in a reasonable timeframe. 

This was a neat strategy for ensuring stockpiling. It was widely accepted it would take some time to manufacture an effective vaccine. For example, the 2005 U.S. Homeland Security’s ‘Pandemic Influenza, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Guide‘ reported it would “take [six to nine] months before a vaccine will be widely available” once the strain had been identified.

In the antivirals series we have shown all these assumptions to be bogus. Models were, well, models, there was no evidence that either Tamiflu or Relenza could interfere with influenza transmission, while the vaccines, when the 2009 pandemic was called, arrived too late to influence anything. The pandemic was any way too mild for the Government-pharmaceutical complex to stick its neck out.

In other words, they took away the lesson that fear needed to be ramped up to get people to comply. However, the modellers’ construct would have made some sense if the risk of a deadly disease was confirmed and the antivirals did what they said on the tin. H5N1 caused some deaths, but these were context-specific and transmission from bird to human and human to human was weak.

In a recent article, we reported how the U.K. will have lost nearly £1.2 billion in two and half years on stockpiling unused antivirals.  

We can’t understand the rationale for purchasing the December 2021 antiviral stockpile. Can you? If the stockpilers consider the vaccines prevent severe disease, what is the purpose of stockpiling mass quantities of antivirals?

Faster clearance and shorter times to viral elimination are similar claims made for Tamiflu, but this isn’t the same as evidence of a reduction in person-to-person transmission. The effectiveness in preventing transmission is further weakened by the evidence that shows one out of five people experience rebound Covid after taking an antiviral drug. Furthermore, RCT evidence shows Molnupiravir did not reduce Covid-associated hospitalisations or death among high-risk vaccinated adults in the community.

So – we ask – what is the rationale for stockpiling mass quantities of Covid antivirals?

Prof. Carl Heneghan is the Oxford Professor of Evidence Based Medicine and Dr. Tom Jefferson is an epidemiologist based in Rome who works with Professor Heneghan on the Cochrane Collaboration. This article was first published on their Substack, Trust The Evidence, which you can subscribe to here.

Tags: Big PharmaCOVID-19FluMedicinePandemicWaste

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14 Comments
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Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
5 months ago

Irrelevant to me I would never contact them if i got burgled, assaulted etc. Never be a police witness because the likelihood is that they will start suspecting you. Steer clear and if you do ever meet them make it clear that you aren’t a schmuck willing to tolerate any crap.

4
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iconoclast
iconoclast
5 months ago
Reply to  Jabby Mcstiff

“Never be a police witness because the likelihood is that they will start suspecting you.”

It is worse. Reporting crime is extremely risky. Being a victim of crime even more so.

If you report being a victim of crime they will believe the criminals who are well versed in convincing lies and accuse you instead.

A trusted source told me of an occasion when present where two police officers attended premises to arrest a criminal who rents out a 9mm pistol to other criminals.

After a private discussion between the police officers and the criminal, the police officers left with no arrest or search of the premises.

How much did that cost?

3
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iconoclast
iconoclast
5 months ago
Reply to  iconoclast

This story is yet more evidence of the Starmer and Labour Government’s incompetence.

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Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
5 months ago

No more police. No more ambulances. You have a crisis you solve it at home. Some guy enters your house you will have to say to him – ‘this is your house now’. No one is coming to save you there is no British state. You are either strong or you are weak.

4
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Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
5 months ago

They have already taken you over it is just a matter of accepting it. The Islamic defeat of England took about fifteen seconds.

5
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Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
5 months ago

Everything about England these days is Islam at its most strident. Lets be honest we have become an Islamic culture. I would say that this is unlikely to change for several hundred years even though Islamic culture is a regression. We can’t stop it. Either get circumcised or someone will do it for you.

1
-1
Heretic
Heretic
5 months ago

Decimating the police forces is part of the
Marxist Frankfurt School 11-Point Plan to Destroy the West.
See Point 8:

1.  Create Racism Offences for Whites Only
2.  Induce Trauma through Injustice
3.  Teach Sex and Sodomy to Children
4.  Undermine Parents’ and Teachers’ Authority
5.  Force Mass Immigration to Destroy Ethnic Identity
6.  Create Confusion by Continual Change
7.  Empty the Churches
8.  Encourage Crime to Destabilize Society
9.  Create Dependency on the State by Welfare Benefits
10. Promote Drugs, Pornography and Alcoholism
11. Encourage the Breakdown of the Family

Last edited 5 months ago by Heretic
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Mogwai
Mogwai
5 months ago

Maybe they won’t be able to go around arresting young kids anymore, then. No idea what’s occurred here but even if the lad is of the scally ASBO shoplifting type this does seem a tad excessive. Have they actually cuffed him?

https://x.com/HoodedClaw1974/status/1866059583837360168

Or perhaps they’ll just use more Community Support Officer clowns who can’t make arrests but can detain you by grabbing your arm while they ring for back-up, just because they don’t like the look of you and aren’t fans of free speech;

”This man was told he was being detained by a community support officer for using a megaphone, luckily he knows that isnt a crime & makes him look like an idiot.”

https://x.com/jomickane/status/1866122780757913999

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Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
5 months ago

Ten years ago I would’ve been happy to go to a pub with mixed company and I would’ve worn western clothes. These days I wear a white pyjama-like outfit because of comfort. You are describing a battle that was lost twenty years ago. Those slovenly lugubrious characters in Muslim drag – whether you accept it or not they have beaten you.And that is in every country in Europe. You took your eye off the ball.

1
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Tyrbiter
Tyrbiter
5 months ago

Presumably all the police officers and staff will be affected by the increases in employer’s taxation as well as the pay increases and the effects of promotion over time. Perhaps some consideration could have been given to this by the Chancellor? No, oh OK then. Not a good idea really for such clever people to be unable to do joined up thinking.

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Mogwai
Mogwai
5 months ago
Reply to  Tyrbiter

Well Starmer has just pledged 11 million quid for Syria, so I’m wondering how many police officers that could’ve been spent on to sit and pore over white people’s social media posts before they come and kick the doors in to arrest them. Being serious though, that could’ve gone towards the pensioners who are in for a freezing winter now rather than fund a Jihadi Xmas party 😮

”The UK will commit £11m in additional humanitarian aid, as the world waits to see how the country will move on from decades of dictatorship.
It’s being directed towards “the needs of the most vulnerable”, with 370,000 people estimated to have been displaced by recent events.”

https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-uk-announces-11m-of-aid-for-syria-and-greater-defence-co-operation-with-saudi-arabia-12593360

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Jack the dog
Jack the dog
5 months ago
Reply to  Mogwai

Well of course he has.

Because it’s not his own money.

Last edited 5 months ago by Hardliner
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Jack the dog
Jack the dog
5 months ago
Reply to  Jack the dog

Excuse me, but why is it our problem?

We’re totally shafted already.

We do not have any spare cash to send

Last edited 5 months ago by Hardliner
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Mogwai
Mogwai
5 months ago
Reply to  Jack the dog

Well we’ve seen what they consider ‘priorities’, haven’t we? And none of it benefits the citizens. Uniparty have been haemorrhaging money all over the place. Another example;

”Last year the government lost between £55 – £81 billion pounds to fraud and error.

More than what it spends annually on defence.

Perhaps when Elon Musk has finished setting up DOGE in the US, he can help build something similar in Britain.”

https://x.com/TraytonBaker/status/1866185339548668101

”Almost as astonishing as the sums involved is the lack of interest from politicians and officials. Half a trillion pounds of public spending isn’t subject to any form of fraud measurement.”

https://x.com/TraytonBaker/status/1866185351280349274/photo/1

4
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Gezza England
Gezza England
5 months ago
Reply to  Mogwai

Might be just me but I am not concerned about there being less Syrians as it makes more space for us to send all those here back where they belong. Missed a chance to round them up while they were out on the streets.

4
0
MajorMajor
MajorMajor
5 months ago

What difference will cuts to the police make?
They don’t really solve any real crimes anyway. Burglary, shoplifting, theft – stuff like that.
Their activities, as far as I can tell, consist of:

  • knocking on people’s door to check their thinking,
  • investigating “non-crime hate incidents”,
  • protecting woke demonstrations (extinction rebellion, etc)
  • protecting anti-Semitic mob,
  • prancing around like robo-crops, driving rainbow coloured cars and looking simultaneously menacing and stupid.
8
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klf
klf
5 months ago
Reply to  MajorMajor

Exactly.

0
0
Jack the dog
Jack the dog
5 months ago

To the extent this a real problem (non crime hate incidents etc) it is one which can be solved by diverting about one day’s worth of net zero subsidies to the police.

Most other issues where there are genuine funding problems as opposed to made up invented shit can be solved in the same way.

Will they be?

To ask the question is to answer it.

4
0
mrbu
mrbu
5 months ago

Did you see the Government’s response to the general election petition? To quote one section:

“The Government’s first Budget freed up tens of billions of pounds to invest in Britain’s future while locking in stability, preventing devastating austerity in our public services and protecting working people’s payslips.”

I fail to see how saddling our police forces with above-inflation pay rises for existing officers, and promising to recruit more, without providing the additional financial resources they need, thus forcing staff cuts, is very different from “devastating austerity”.

3
0
EppingBlogger
EppingBlogger
5 months ago

I guess the DEI staff will be exempt from any cuts as will the LGBTQ+ liaison teams.

Essex will retain staff trained to interview journalists on their doorsteps about tweets they made and deleted.

Cuts will be made, we can supose, to any officers capable of looking for thieves.

Police are paid for by County and Unitary Authorities. The costs only go up because the wages go up faster than efficiency and pension costs go up because they have not been properly funded. To cover that the local authorities raise taxes from property owners and occupiers. So how come there is a shortfall.

Essex police budget is about £360 million a year. Eight authorities are listed but the total involved is said to be ten. That means the total spend will be about £3 billion. A £300 million shortfall suggests costs thave risen ten per cent above the rate of increase planned and financed through council tax, etc.

It all looks a bit dodgy to me.

Last edited 5 months ago by Hardliner
4
0
Rusty123
Rusty123
5 months ago

So another excuse to put council tax up, another excuse as to why crime is rife, and here’s a thought, make these left wing loonys pay to “police” their own “,protests”, that should save a few million, or perhaps we should just get rid of them altogether, after all not exactly working for the average brit, are they

5
0
RTSC
RTSC
5 months ago

Perhaps that’ll mean a bit less “Hate Speech” Intimidation from Plod then.

Every cloud ….

3
0
klf
klf
5 months ago

The Telegraph revealed last week that the Metropolitan Police force is braced for reductions of up to 2,300 officers out of a force of 34,000

I don’t think we’ll notice the difference. The police gave up policing a long time ago.

0
0
LizT
LizT
5 months ago

To some extent I agree with most of the comments on this thread – I didn’t call police when I was assaulted by an Islamist woman wearing a face covering for example as I feared they would arrest me and not her – but on other occasions when I was assaulted by a neighbour and when a neighbour called police on my behalf, police attended very quickly and went out of their way to be helpful and made it clear that if I needed them to come back that they would respond immediately with blue lights. So I think it depends on which demographic is involved in any altercation. I’m a 75 y o white woman so perhaps they tend to respond to my age group and gender and perhaps I’m also more likely to be believed than white males of any age. I’ve also had good responses generally if I’ve ever had to call an ambulance and impressed that the last thing they want to do is take you to hospital so they take a great deal of care and spend time checking you out. And I’d add that I’m in West London so it’s MET police responding

Last edited 5 months ago by LizT
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