It is time to replace Queensland Chief Health Officer, Dr. John Gerrard, with someone who will:

• Acknowledge covid is airborne, in keeping with the international scientific consensus. Covid spreads through the air, somewhat similar to cigarette smoke, and can collect in poorly ventilated, unfiltered indoor air. Well-fitting respirators (such as N95s), good ventilation, and air filters help address this. 
• Value the lives of Queenslanders who are elderly, immunosuppressed (including cancer patients), or otherwise at high-risk. Even when vaccinated, some people are not able to mount an effective immune response.  Saying that it is “necessary” for everyone to catch covid ensures death for some.
• Acknowledge that omicron does not offer lasting immunity to itself (the health departments of NSW and Victoria say immunity lasts no more than a month), much less to future covid variants.

In contrast, the current CHO Dr. Gerrard denies accepted science, devalues the lives of vulnerable Queenslanders, and promotes dangerously incorrect information:

• Dr. Gerrad is anti-science, failing to acknowledge airborne spread. He has said it is acceptable to take masks off indoors, as long as you are spaced 1.5 meters from others or seated, and Queensland health policy heavily promotes hand-washing as key in fighting covid. Ideas of 1.5 meters equaling safety and the primacy of hand-washing are part of long-disproven droplet theory for covid.
• Dr. Gerrard has repeatedly said that pervasive covid is not just inevitable, but “necessary”, and that avoiding infection is akin to magic.  This does not offer recognition, much less of a plan, for vulnerable Queenslanders for whom infection is likely to result in severe illness or death.
• Dr. Gerrard has suggested that once every Queenslander catches omicron the pandemic will end and we will enter an “endemic” phase, but this is not supported by the experiences of other countries, history of other diseases, nor scientific research.  It also conflicts with directives from NSW and Victoria health departments, which recognize that immunity lasts only 1 month.

Furthermore, we demand an investigation to understand why Queensland pivoted to such a risky strategy (mass infection as “necessary”) without any public discussion or debate, given the well-established evidence of long-term neurological, vascular, and immune system damage that can result from infection, even in vaccinated individuals.