​“What Boris Inquiry Bollocks Next?” – Long Covid Advocacy Slams PM Ahead of Covid Inquiry Appearance.
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PRESS RELEASE
Publication Date: 06/12/2023
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Long Covid Advocacy has issued a hard-hitting response ahead of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s appearance before the UK Covid Inquiry, following revelations that he dismissed the existence of long Covid as “bollocks.”
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During the Inquiry, Anthony Metzer KC, representing Long Covid Kids, Long Covid SOS, and Long Covid Support, revealed that in October 2020, while the Department of Health and Social Care was publishing guidance on long Covid, Johnson scrawled in capitals that long Covid was “bollocks” and later referred to it as “Gulf War Syndrome stuff.”
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“The UK’s senior most decision makers were dismissing, diminishing and disbelieving the very existence and risk of Long Covid,” Metzer stated.
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In response, Long Covid Advocacy launched a striking visual highlighting the scale of the crisis: a distorted image of Boris Johnson with the words: “Long Covid bollocks. 2 million affected. No protection. No warning. No cure.”
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The group said in a statement:
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“It is estimated that nearly two million people have long Covid due to a dismissal of its existence at the highest echelons of power. There was:
No Protection – we were not given the tools or information to protect ourselves.
No Warning – there was no public health messaging.
No Cure – there is no effective treatment for long Covid.
We are seeing the same mistakes where the medical and political establishment dismiss certain illnesses they don’t understand, such as Gulf War syndrome and ME. This needs to change. Long Covid is a multi-system, biological, and devastating disease with a quality of life impact equivalent to Parkinson’s and worse than stage 4 lung cancer. The political establishment must get real and act.”
Personal Stories Highlight the Impact
Ravi Veriah Jacques, living with long Covid, said:
“Where once my life traversed several countries, it now consists of several rooms. Long Covid has stolen almost everything I loved – performing the violin, jumping into relationships, producing academic work, seeing old friends. I’m almost three years in. This cannot be the rest of my life.”
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Amy Boylan added:
“My life stopped when I caught Covid in March 2020. It filled my blood with persistent clots and badly damaged my immune system. I can’t walk or work, care for myself or my kids. There are millions like me globally. We desperately need research and treatment to restart our lives.”
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A Broader Pattern of Dismissal
People living with ME, a similar post-viral illness, have long faced dismissal by the medical establishment.
Kirstie Sivapalan, living with ME, said:
“Living with ME, I find it both hopeful and frustrating there is more focus on long Covid research. I believe we will get long-awaited answers that the medical community can no longer dismiss, but patients with ME are still the poor cousins. It’s disheartening to watch research repeated, heralded as new, and decades of experience ignored.”
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Calls to Action
Long Covid Advocacy is calling for:
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£100m a year in biomedical funding as recommended by the Coronavirus All Party Parliamentary Group.
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A fast-tracked treatment-based study similar to ReCOVer.
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Prevention measures to stop reinfection, including monitoring, filtration, and ventilation legislation.
Claire Higham, founder of Long Covid Advocacy, said:
“Catastrophic mistakes are being exposed in the UK Covid Inquiry that led to mass death, disability, and devastation. Yet we are not out of the woods. People are still not recovered, still dying, and still contracting long Covid. We need prevention, public health messaging, and an emergency research Moonshot for long Covid based on firm biological principles.”
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ENDS
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Media contact:
hello[at]longcovidadvoc.com
www.longcovidadvoc.com
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