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- Prof Paul Griffin lifts lid on Qld Covid response
A leading health expert has admitted that he had often no idea where the advice that was issued to Queenslanders during the Covid pandemic had come from.
Mater Hospital infectious diseases director Professor Paul Griffin was a public face during the pandemic in his role as an advisor to then-Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her state government.
The Sunshine State implemented drastic lockdown measures, which saw its borders closed for months on end and prevented families from seeing dying loved ones.
Almost six years on, Professor Griffin shared insight into the Covid response, admitting that the state government ‘didn’t get it perfectly right’ and was underprepared for the new virus.
He also lifted the lid on ‘captains’ calls’ made by Palaszczuk and chief health officer Jeannette Young, which he says often left him and other medical experts taken aback.
‘There were a lot of times when we heard the health advice, and we were all catching up regularly saying we didn’t know where it was coming from,’ he told the Courier Mail.
He believes the then Labor government lost sight of being sensible and ‘actually relying on proper expertise’.
‘Dealing with people locked out across the border, prevented from seeing dying relatives, and being told they had to wear a mask by themselves in a car, and we saw people at the football wiping the ball down before they threw it back,’ Professor Griffin said.
A leading health expert has lifted the lid on Queensland government’s drastic Covid measures, which included the wearing of face masks outdoors
Former Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk regularly came under fire during the pandemic for her Covid measures and lockdowns
Infectious diseases expert Professor Paul Griffin has admitted that the Queensland government ‘didn’t get it perfectly right’ and were underprepared for Covid
One major criticism was Dr Young’s public advice to under-40s not to get AstraZeneca jab shortly after the federal government announced it was available in 2021.
‘I don’t want an 18-year-old in Queensland dying from a clotting illness who, if they got COVID, probably wouldn’t die,’ she said at the time.
‘We are not in a position that I need to ask young, fit, healthy people to put their health on the line getting a vaccine that could potentially, significantly harm them.’
Prof Griffin believes the government’s mixed messaging had a detrimental effect.
‘I understand there were some good intentions there, but we know with the way things are shared on social media, if you make a damaging comment you can never take it away,’ he said.
Professor Griffin has no regrets about the high profile he had during the pandemic, despite coming under fire from the public outside of work.
Palaszczuk previously defended the tough decisions but conceded they were not made lightly.
‘Not everything was right, not everything was perfect, but we got through it,’ she told 7News Spotlight in 2024.
Prof Griffin has slammed ‘captains’ calls’ made by chief health officer Jeannette Young (left) and Annastacia Palaszczuk (right)
‘It was very difficult at the time, but the results for Queensland in the end, I do stand by it, but I do acknowledge it was very difficult and hard for families.
‘The end result was we only had tragically seven deaths during that whole period of that two years before we opened up our borders, so I think the results show that it did work.’