Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Scoop InfoPages
This InfoPage in unregistered, if this is your news page register Covid Plan B for InfoPages here.
Covid Plan B - Latest News [Page 1]
NZ Cautioned Over Lead Vaccines
Tuesday, 17 November 2020, 10:23 am | Covid Plan B
Byram Bridle, a viral immunologist at the University of Guelph, cautions New Zealanders that the lead vaccines against Covid19 may not be the solution they are expecting to end its isolation under the elimination strategy. The main points of his caution ... More >>
Six Simple Science Questions On Masks
Monday, 16 November 2020, 2:56 pm | Covid Plan B
The public deserves to know the scientific evidence behind the New Zealand Government’s consideration of a public health order making masks mandatory in certain situations. 1. What scientific study has persuaded the Government to make masks mandatory? 2. ... More >>
Will NZ Follow WHO Lead To ‘living With Virus’?
Monday, 12 October 2020, 3:07 pm | Covid Plan B
The Covid Plan B group is reassured by the shift of international policy and science consensus toward what had been a dissenting position six months ago; learning to live with the virus. Over the weekend, the WHO’s David Nabarro said that lockdowns ... More >>
Extended Lockdown Is Elimination's 'own-goal'
Tuesday, 25 August 2020, 7:36 am | Covid Plan B
The extension of Auckland’s lockdown shows the cost of the Government’s continued pursuit of elimination of Covid19 and intention to wait for a vaccine. The Covid Plan B group says New Zealand is now one of the few countries pursuing elimination ... More >>
Test For Mystery Source Of COVID-19 Is Banned In NZ
Wednesday, 19 August 2020, 4:47 pm | Covid Plan B
The serology tests today being demanded by experts as necessary to track the mystery resurgence of COVID-19 have been banned by the Ministry of Health. Simon Thornley, epidemiologist with the Covid Plan B group, has criticised health commentators as ... More >>
International Experts Weigh-in On New Zealand's Covid-19 Response
Monday, 17 August 2020, 2:06 pm | Covid Plan B
New Zealand’s possible route to recovery has been the subject of discussion for this morning’s speakers at the Covid-19 Science and Policy Symposium. The event, which is running all day, was kicked off by Dr. David Katz, a medical doctor and ... More >>
Symposium To Discuss Whether Second Lockdown Will Work
Sunday, 16 August 2020, 3:09 pm | Covid Plan B
Whether New Zealand’s second lockdown will be effective in the wake of new cases of community transmission will be discussed by several international experts at the COVID-19 Science and Policy Symposium Webinar on Monday. The webinar will feature ... More >>
Viral Immunologist Says A Vaccine In NZ Will Be 'Late, Limited And Last'
Sunday, 16 August 2020, 8:19 am | Covid Plan B
A University of Guelph viral immunologist, commissioned by the Government of Ontario to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, says New Zealand could be in isolation for years if it sticks to its suppression strategy and waits for a vaccine. “The race to develop ... More >>
WHO Highlights NZ Border Problem – International Symposium To Tackle Dilemma
Tuesday, 28 July 2020, 1:17 pm | Covid Plan B
Several World Health Organisation officials have this week crystallised New Zealand’s border dilemma – saying that keeping national borders closed because of COVID-19 is now unfeasible. Head of WHO’s emergencies program lead Mike Ryan said “it ... More >>
Oxford Professor Criticises NZ Suppression Strategy
Tuesday, 21 July 2020, 1:39 pm | Covid Plan B
An Oxford professor has criticised New Zealand’s Covid-19 strategy ahead of an international symposium on New Zealand’s policy options to be held in Parliament in August. Professor Carl Heneghan from the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine ... More >>
Govt Confirms It Won’t Test For Virus Prevalence
Wednesday, 8 July 2020, 1:37 pm | Covid Plan B
The Government has formally confirmed that it will not use any of the current or future serology tests to assess how widespread the Covid19 disease has been in New Zealand. In answer to an Official Information Request by the Covid Plan B group, ... More >>
What The Latest Science Says About New Zealand’s Covid-19 Policy
Monday, 6 July 2020, 9:02 am | Covid Plan B
By Simon Thornley With a smattering of new cases emerging from returnees in hotels prompting both sides of the house to double down on our tight quarantine the key question is coming into focus: where does our nation go from here? Sir Peter Gluckman, ... More >>
If Border Opens Soon, NZ Can Minimise The Economic Consequences Of Covid-19
Friday, 3 July 2020, 10:46 am | Covid Plan B
The Covid Plan B group says New Zealand can minimise the economic consequences of Covid-19 if it opens its borders following the rest of the world. The group, which has critiqued the Government's lockdown response since March, has today added its ... More >>
Are We Being Kind To Our Cook Island Whanau Over Covid-19?
Thursday, 25 June 2020, 4:16 pm | Covid Plan B
By Gerhard Sundborn The Cook Islands is almost as much a part of New Zealand as the North or South Island. Like Niue and Tokelau, all Cook Islanders hold New Zealand citizenship. The Cooks is home to 17,500 people of whom about 2,500 (15%) are either ... More >>
Learning From New Covid-19 Data
Monday, 15 June 2020, 4:10 pm | Covid Plan B
By Dr Simon Thornley In the response to Covid-19, it is easy to forget that our knowledge of the virus is provisional and still evolving. We have seen, for example, that the infection fatality rate, initially given as 3.4%, now with serology data ... More >>
Plan B Says “yes” To Level 1
Monday, 8 June 2020, 5:11 pm | Covid Plan B
The ’Plan B’ group of academics campaigning against lockdown say the Government’s decision to finally end the lockdown and move to “Level 1” is justified because the spread of the virus is clearly already waning, including ... More >>
Erroneous Covid Modellers Reveal Myopic Focus
Friday, 5 June 2020, 4:33 pm | Covid Plan B
The Covid-19 Plan B group has dismissed as “scaremongering” a claim that an 8% chance of a Covid-19 outbreak under Level 1 means New Zealand should continue in level 2, and restrict large gatherings, based on the risk of spread they pose ... More >>
COVID-19 forecast errors wrecked Govt decision-making
Thursday, 4 June 2020, 11:23 am | Covid Plan B
It is clear now that estimates of death from the Covid-19 pandemic were exceeded by factors of hundreds, if not thousands. More >>
Elimination Is Scientifically Unsound
Friday, 1 May 2020, 11:43 am | Covid Plan B
Epidemiologist Simon Thornley says public support for New Zealand’s “scientifically unsound” elimination goal is based on the mistaken belief that if virus has been contained, they are protected from infection until a vaccination is developed. “Covid-19 ... More >>
