‘As the third wave of the pandemic takes hold across England, the UK Government plans to further re-open the nation. Implicit in this decision is the acceptance that infections will surge, but that this does not matter because vaccines have “broken the link between infection and mortality”. On July 19, 2021—branded as Freedom Day—almost all restrictions are set to end. We believe this decision is dangerous and premature.’ A coalition of leading scientists and doctors has published a letter in the Lancet criticising the government’s herd immunity ‘experiment’ as ‘dangerous and unethical’. Among the signatories are Dr Deepti Gurdasani, epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University, Professor Trish Greenhalgh, professor of primary care at Oxford University, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, GP and Chair of BMA Council, and several members of Independent SAGE. Read the full letter here