Independent SAGE

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".

[4] The non-profit group The Citizens, created by The Observer journalist and political activist Carole Cadwalladr,[5] were a founding partner with Independent SAGE in May 2020.

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.

[9] 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.

[11] 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.