The Health Minister has responded after fears were raised over easing lockdown restrictions.

David Ashford spoke to the Examiner after the head of the World Health Organisation’s emergencies programme, Dr Mike Ryan, was reported in the Daily Telegraph saying it was a ’dangerous assumption’ that the high vaccination rates would prevent substantial surges in hospitalisations and deaths as the rate of cases has risen in Europe.

Dr Ryan’s comments came as 122 doctors and scientists wrote a letter to the Lancet, the health industry’s leading publication in the UK, in which they said that the Westminster government’s strategy of coming out of lockdown on July 19 was a ’dangerous and unethical experiment’ as the delta variant surges.

Mr Ashford said: ’I’ve seen both the story to the Telegraph and also the letter from the scientists.

’That is precisely why we have not gone down the route of the UK. We continue to have border controls in a way the UK doesn’t.’

He added: ’We have never said it is a one-way street. That is why as we come to live with Covid we have said it will still depend on hospitalisation. If the hospital was coming under pressure then we would have to consider what we do measures-wise.

’The difference is when you are in an elimination strategy the focus is on cases and preventing cases in total.

’The only way to do that is to keep locking down society and that is only sustainable for so long.

’When you’re in a mitigation strategy you have to accept there will always be a level of cases but what matters is the type of cases and if people are becoming seriously ill.’

The Isle of Man moved from an elimination strategy to a mitigation one after the last lockdown in March.

Mr Ashford said the purpose of the lockdowns 12 months ago was to allow time for a vaccine to be developed and to stop the NHS becoming overwhelmed.

’In terms of the vaccine we are well ahead in our rollout of most other countries.’

Travel is now easier for people a fortnight after they have had both jabs (two plus two), meaning the island has now welcomed visitors and many people from the island have now gone away.

But it means that younger people, especially, do not have that freedom because they’re still waiting for both jabs.

Is that dangerous? Shouldn’t we have waited to relax our border rules until a fornight after all adults had had both jabs?

Mr Ashford said: ’That assumes everyone is at risk with Covid and Long Covid on an equal basis and that’s not the case.

’The most at risk are those over 50 with underlying health conditions. Of those who are vulnerable we have 93% who have taken up the offer of a vaccine and 88% of those vulnerable (or 95% of those that chose to take up a vaccine) have now completed two plus two. So it makes sense to start on the journey.’

In the Telegraph report, Dr Ryan was asked about the UK’s apparent strategy to let the virus circulate widely.

He said: ’The logic of more people being infected is better is, I think, logic that has proven to its moral emptiness and epidemiological stupidity previously.’

Mr Ashford said that the real world data from the UK did not currently bear out what Dr Ryan was saying.

While cases in the UK are surging, there has not been the increase in hospital admissions and deaths that was seen in previous waves.

Dr Ashford said this ’clearly shows the vaccine is breaking the link between serious illness’.

He pointed out that hospital admissions in the UK were 0.5% of active cases and those requiring ventilation are 0.08% of active cases.

That was lowest of any period during the pandemic despite cases growing and in fact doubling in a week, he said.

Deaths per day were now at 0.01% of active cases which is lower than that experienced by the UK during a winter flu outbreak.

The UK had experienced 841 covid deaths since the start of May out of a population of 68.1m.

That compared 4,644 deaths in the prior two months (March/April) and 49,194 the two months prior to that (January/February).

’There has been a radical shift in the mortality rate which is clearly due to the vaccine,’ Mr Ashford said.

’Although in the international media you will get reports saying hospital admissions have doubled what’s not being reported is that it is a doubling from a low rate. So, for instance, one hospital trust that was quoted widely recently was Lancashire Teaching Hospitals where it was stated cases had "trebled".

’But they had gone from 20 to 61 out of a population of 300,000. To put it into context they had 183 patients in hospital in January. So the context is important.’

Mr Ashford added that Dr Ryan’s verdict was not shared by other scientists.

Prof Robert Dingwall of Nottingham Trent University has stated the government should push on and there was no evidence of hospitalisations increasing that would put pressure on services.

He added that immunologist Professor Sir John Bell, who advises the Westminster government, said it had been clear that the now is the right time for opening up and continuing on the journey to normality.