David King, a former chief scientific adviser in the United Kingdom, has set up a “shadow” scientific advisory group to the government.
By Kai KupferschmidtScience’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.Chemist David King is no stranger to politics or epidemics.
From 2000 to 2007, King was chief scientific adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, U.K. prime ministers from the Labour Party.
During that time, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease led to the culling of millions of sheep and cattle. Meanwhile, in humans, the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus spread from China to two dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, before the epidemic was contained.In the current pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, King has criticized