More than 100 leading scientists and practitioners express in a manifesto their concerns about the covid-19 policy in our country. The collective argues in favor of developing the debate about corona in both breadth and depth. After almost two years of ongoing crisis, and a year after the corona vaccines became available, the manifesto signatories believe it is time for a thorough evaluation and reflection, with the aim of preventing a yo-yo policy that drags on for years to come and further polarization. .
Read everything about the coronavirus in this file.
In their manifesto, titled “Winter Manifesto for a Sustainable Pandemic Policy,” signatories deplore the polarization of the debate and the fact that certain scientific opinions are all too often ignored or marginalized.
In order to both deepen and broaden the debate, the signatories argue in favor of assessing future policy against five basic principles: targeting with a long-term perspective, transparency, ambiguity, deontology and effective communication, the importance of multidisciplinarity, subsidiarity and proportionality, respect for the foundations of a democratic constitutional state and attention to the impact of socio-economic inequality and social vulnerability.
The signatories, including Amir Bachrouri (chairman of the Flemish Youth Council), psychiatrist Dirk De Wachter and Heidi De Pauw (Child Focus), but also philosopher Ignaas Devisch, director of the CLBs in Community Education Inge Van Trimpont and physician-epidemiologist Luc Bonneux, underline that their manifesto should not be seen as criticism of specific persons.
However, the manifesto should contribute to a “restart of the open debate that can lead to a policy that puts an end to dichotomy and polarization, and emphasizes connection and respect. A debate with the necessary sense of nuance, with attention to all good substantiated scientific and societal positions, even if they do not correspond in all respects with the positions of the policy makers or appointed experts”, the signatories said.
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