Qld CHO defended against calls for sacking over pandemic handling

Supporters have sprung to the defence of Queensland’s chief health officer, penning a letter to the Premier amid calls for the CHO’s sacking.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman with chief health officer Dr John Gerrard

The unprecedented call for the sacking of the state’s chief health officer over the handling of the pandemic from a collection of scientists and clinicians has garnered anger from an opposing group of respected boffins.

Australians For Science and Freedom, whose members include doctors, lawyers and academics, has written to Premier Steven Miles calling the attack on John Gerrard a witch hunt, saying the CHO had been a consistent voice of reason in a “sea of confusion” and had guided Queensland safely through a difficult period in the Covid-19 era.

The group said the attack on Dr Gerrard was seemingly orchestrated by members of the Global Health Network, which was in turn led by the Global Climate Foundation, an international lobby group that “has no business interfering with Queensland Health policy”.

Dr Gerrard’s critics, who included Queenslanders, said he made several false and uninformed Covid-19 statements that minimised the seriousness of the virus.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman on Wednesday delivered a full-throated defence of Dr Gerrard, noting Queensland last year had the lowest Covid-19 death rate of any state.

“I have confidence in his leadership and how he has managed Covid and other public health diseases because the evidence is very clear,” she said.

“Queensland had one of the lowest mortality rates in the world during Covid, and that’s thanks to Dr John Gerrard and our now governor (Dr Gerrard’s predecessor as CHO) Dr Jeannette Young.

“The data and the evidence is clear, Queensland had one of the best responses in the world.”

Australians For Science and Freedom said the group calling for Dr Gerrard to be replaced has little substantive material backing their call.

“The appropriate place to voice concern with the performance of health bureaucrats and promote discussion about health policy is within the scientific arena,” the group wrote to Mr Miles.

“This attack on Dr Gerrard is anti-democratic and without justification and reeks

of political opportunism.”

A Queensland Health spokesman also rejected the critics’ claims, saying it was important to judge the state’s response to the pandemic by the results.

“With more than 20 per cent of Australia’s population, Queensland has fortunately seen only 14 per cent of the nation’s Covid-19 deaths,” the spokesman said.

“This is one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.”

Dr Gerrard is on leave.