Swedish Architect for No-Lockdown Covid Policy to join WHO
By Dominic Chopping
STOCKHOLM – Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s state epidemiologist and architect behind the country’s controversial no-lockdown policy for the management of the coronavirus, is leaving his job to work for the World Health Organization in Geneva, according to a statement from the Swedish Public Health Agency.
Mr Tegnell argued against the more globally adopted approach of strict closures to combat the spread of Covid-19, instead of guiding Sweden through the pandemic with an agile approach that saw the economy and society remain open while introducing voluntary guidelines for social distancing and very few enforceable rules.
He defended his doctor of infection, taking on the role of Sweden’s state epidemiologist in 2013, after previously working at the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, the National Board of Health and Welfare, the WHO and the EU Commission.
In his new role, Mr Tegnell will be a senior expert in a new group that will coordinate the work between the WHO, the UN Children’s Fund and the vaccine organization Gavi. The assignment involves, among other things, making Covid-19 vaccine available to countries in the world that have not been able to buy their own, says the Swedish Public Health Agency.
He will leave his position as head of department and state epidemiologist at the Swedish Public Health Agency on 14 March.
On the same date, Anders Lindblom, an infection doctor at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Health Protection, will take over as state epidemiologist.
Write to Dominic Chopping at [email protected]