I’ve found it challenging to discuss Wegovy, the weight loss drug, because it sounds like a playful nickname for Michael Gove, a comedian’s pet. However, as Wegovy becomes available in the UK this week, both privately and on the NHS, I’m amazed by the significance of this moment. Big pharma has been searching for an anti-obesity medicine for as long as I can remember. In the past, I asked a group of GPs which disease they would eradicate if they had a magical tool, and every single one of them chose type 2 diabetes.
Despite this breakthrough, the arrival of Wegovy presents a tremendous challenge for those who view obesity as a moral failing. These individuals blame people with obesity for their body shape and attribute their condition, along with any other health issues they may have, to their own choices. This mindset is prevalent across society.
During 2021, obesity discourse reached its lowest point when the former work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, appeared on Good Morning Britain to address the UK’s high Covid death rate. Coffey attributed it to an aging population and an obesity crisis. Piers Morgan seized this opportunity to question whether Coffey was blaming the public for being old and overweight. Ironically, fat-shaming is Morgan’s go-to material, his fallback when there’s no other topic to provoke his audience. Indignant, Coffey ended the interview, which seemed effortless since it was conducted via Zoom. Nevertheless, it was a painful experience to witness.
That incident encapsulated the true obesity crisis in the UK – a society rife with inequality and increasing hardship, where politicians and some medical professionals blame individuals for their own struggles. Commentators then magnify these failings to explain the problems within an underfunded healthcare system.
What will these individuals do if obesity ceases to be a problem? What convoluted justifications will they concoct to blame poverty on the poor? Perhaps this is why the rollout of Wegovy will be “controlled and limited”; it has the potential to expose the disingenuous arguments often used.
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