Rita Panahi: Sweden had a lower rate of excess deaths than locked down, closed-to-the-world Australia

While many countries followed the Chinese Communist Party model of enforcing crippling lockdowns, Sweden remained open and now, some three years later, they’ve been vindicated.

Swedend was initially derided by the international media as a ‘pariah state’ when it came to lockdowns. Picture: Getty

Thank the Nordic gods for Sweden and their chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell who refused to follow the flawed (political) science of the China-influenced World Health Organisation in locking down the young and healthy, masking people unnecessarily, closing schools and other economic and society destroying measures embraced in much of the Western world.

While countries like Australia, Italy and the UK abandoned their advanced pandemic plans to follow the Chinese Communist Party model of enforcing crippling, illiberal lockdowns to eliminate a respiratory virus, Sweden remained open.

Tegnell described the lockdown response to Covid-19 as akin to “using a hammer to kill a fly”. And now, some three years later, Tegnell has again been vindicated.

Sweden refused to follow the flawed (political) science on lockdowns. Picture: AFP

Latest OECD analysis shows that during the two worst years of the pandemic, 2020 and 2021, Sweden had a lower rate of excess deaths than locked down, closed-to-the-world Australia and just about every other developed nation in the world.

In news that should shame our politicians, public health bureaucrats and supposed “human rights campaigners”, Australia’s excess death rate was considerably higher than that recorded for Sweden when including the third year of the pandemic, 2022.

Back in April 2020 Tegnell was asked by the BBC what data he was basing his decisions on and why it differed from the rest of the world.

Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell. Picture: AFP

He responded by pointing that “the rest of the world” had no data to justify the drastic actions being taken, pointing out that one of the few things being relied on was a non-peer reviewed report by Imperial College in London, while most countries had no data justifying the restrictions placed on their citizens.

After being derided by the international media as a “pariah state” and “the world’s cautionary tale” Sweden has emerged as the example to follow when the next pandemic hits.