Covid inquiry: No Chief Scientific Adviser in post in NI at vital period of pandemic
Stormont’s leading scientific adviser was off on medical leave and wasn’t replaced at a crucial stage of the pandemic, the Northern Ireland leg of the Covid 19 inquiry heard on Tuesday.
The Department of Health’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Ian Young, was on leave due to a medical issue between 12 February 2020 and 23 March 2020.
Giving evidence as Module 2C of the Covid inquiry entered its second week, Professor Young told the hearing that there was no one performing his duties as CSA at a time when decisions were being taken to close schools and encourage working from home in NI.
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Professor Young’s English counterpart Sir Patrick Vallance was often seen front and centre of the UK response to the pandemic alongside Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty.
Counsel for the Covid 19 inquiry Clair Dobbin KC asked Professor Young why no one had stepped into the CSA role in his absence for the critical six-week period.
“Within the Department there wasn’t any deputy to my position,” Professor Young said. "I think there wasn’t anyone obvious within the Department to step up.
“My understanding would be that other colleagues, mainly medically qualified colleagues, would have been stepping in to fill the gaps.
“In addition, scientific input or information to the Department of Health would have been coming via UK-wide sources. But yes, I recognise that there was a gap.”
Professor Young also revealed he had not been consulted about the potential impact of Covid 19 before his absence, despite rising concerns around the new virus in January and February of 2020.
When asked by Dobbin KC if he did not play any part in the NI response to the pandemic in early 2020, Professor Young replied ‘that’s correct yes’.
When asked why that was the case, Professor Young said: “I guess that’s a question that would need to be directed to others rather than to me.
“I wasn’t integrated into the response at that stage, I was aware of the emerging pandemic from other areas of my professional life.
“My understanding was that the lead in terms of response was coming from CMO and other colleagues within the Department of Health.
“My expectation was that I would be called on to provide scientific input whenever they felt that was necessary.
“With that in mind I was doing my best to keep up with scientific developments in the wider literature.”
Asked by Dobbin KC why he didn’t put himself forward at that time to say that the CSA should be part of the response to the emerging pandemic, Professor Young said: “My experience of working in the Department was that I was available for advice in a large number of areas.
He described the use of the CSA role in January and February 2020 in response to Covid 19 as ‘patchy’.
Professor Young was appointed the CSA for Northern Ireland in 2015, in what was a part-time role pre-pandemic, but moved to a full-time role on his return from medical leave.
Earlier at the inquiry at the Clayton Hotel on Tuesday, it heard from the Civil Service’s top Department of Health official Richard Pengelly, who gave evidence that a busload of tourists from Wuhan, China visited Larne in January 2020.
The inquiry continues on Wednesday and will conclude next week.
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