The Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, better known as Independent SAGE, is a group of scientists, unaffiliated to government (although some are also in the government SAGE), that publishes advice aimed toward the

UK government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

regarding the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Its name is based on SAGE, the name of the government's official

Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. The questions raised about the transparency of SAGE and possible political interference during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom led to concerns about trust in public health messaging being raised by scientists and by the media. As an alternative, a group of scientists created Independent SAGE, chaired by Sir David Anthony King, a former Government Chief Scientific Advisor, in early May 2020 to "provide a clear structure on which an effective policy should be based given the inevitability that the virus will continue to cross borders". The non-profit group The Citizens, created by ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' journalist and political activist

Carole Cadwalladr Carole Jane Cadwalladr (; born 1969) is a British author, investigative journalist, and features writer. She was a features writer for ''The Observer'' and formerly worked at ''The Daily Telegraph''. Cadwalladr rose to international prominence i ...

, were a founding partner with Independent SAGE in May 2020. They continue to support Independent SAGE's social media and web presence. The role of Independent SAGE in the pandemic was not without controversy. For example, the UK's Chief Scientific Advisor

Patrick Vallance Patrick John Thompson Vallance, Baron Vallance of Balham (born 17 March 1960), is a British physician, scientist, life peer, and clinical pharmacologist who has served as Minister of State for Science in the Department for Science, Innovatio ...

has stated that he warned the group that their name could cause confusion with the official body. Emails published at the UK COVID Public Inquiry show that overlap in membership between Independent SAGE subgroups and official bodies caused confidentiality concerns about Government documents being shared with the group.

Public statements

In May 2020, Independent SAGE warned against ending

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

prematurely in places like schools. In July 2020, they published a strategy pressing the UK government to achieve ‘zero Covid,’ stating ‘The prospect of many thousands of further deaths from COVID-19 over the next nine months is unacceptable,' although in the same report they noted only one infectious disease, smallpox, has ever been successfully eliminated. In September 2020, Independent SAGE called for immediate government action to prevent further increase in the prevalence of COVID-19 infection, to prevent the need for a second national lockdown. In November 2020, Sir David King stated that he was considering continuing Independent SAGE's work after the coronavirus pandemic, with a focus on combatting

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

Members

Current

Source: * Professor

Danny Altmann Danny Altmann is a British immunologist, and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London. Altmann earned a bachelor's degree from the University of London in 1980, and a PhD from the University of Bristol in 1983 on T cell immunity to h ...

* Professor

Anthony Costello Anthony Costello (born 20 February 1953) is a British paediatrician. Until 2015 Costello was Professor of International Child Health and Director of the Institute for Global Health at the University College London. Costello is most notable for ...

* Professor

Sheena Cruickshank Sheena Margaret Cruickshank is a British immunologist and Professor in Biomedical Sciences and Public Engagement at the University of Manchester. She researches how immune responses of the gut are started as a result of infection and/or inflammat ...

* Professor

Karl Friston Karl John Friston FRS FMedSci FRSB (born 12 July 1959) is a British neuroscientist and theoretician at University College London. He is an authority on brain imaging and theoretical neuroscience, especially the use of physics-inspired stati ...

* Professor Trish Greenhalgh * Dr Steve Griffin * Dr Zubaida Haque * Dr Binita Kane * Professor Aris Katzourakis * Dr Lennard Lee * Professor

Martin McKee Clifford Martin McKee, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 12 July 1956), is professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Biography He was educated at the Royal Belfast Acade ...

* Professor

Susan Michie Susan Fiona Dorinthea Michie (born 19 June 1955) is a British academic, clinical psychologist, and professor of health psychology, director of The Centre for Behaviour Change and head of The Health Psychology Research Group, all at University ...

* Dr Tolullah Oni * Professor

Christina Pagel Christina Pagel ( ) FMedSci HonFFPH is a German-British mathematician and professor of operational research at University College London (UCL) within UCL's Clinical Operational Research Unit (CORU), which applies operational research, data anal ...

* Professor Stephen Reicher * Dr Duncan Robertson * Dr Helen Salisbury * Professor Gabriel Scally * Dr Kit Yates

Former

Source * Professor Kamlesh Khunti * Sir David King * Doctor Alison Pittard * Professor Allyson Pollock * Dr Deepti Gurdasani * Professor Deenan Pillay

References

External links

* 2020 establishments in the United Kingdom Scientific organisations based in the United Kingdom Emergency management in the United Kingdom Organizations established for the COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom {{COVID-19-stub