That's a conspiracy theory that simply makes zero sense from a Swedish political perspective. Exactly none.
They don't make that accusation explicitly in the article because it's so ridiculous.
1. It's not like the National health agency was a pain in the butt for the Social democratic government in 2014.
2. Professors at Karolinska institutet can make their voices heard if they want to. It's the most prestigious scientific institution in Sweden. Their roles as top academics are still to advice relevant authorities.
3. Why would politicians actively undermine their own scientific advisors? For what ideological reason? I simply see none *in this context*. If it was about national economy, gender, migration or environment it *might* make more sense. But national health policy? That's a totally apolitical question in Sweden 2014.
There's also a simpler explanation at hand: a change in the organizational structure. The health authority still relies on advice from researchers. Maybe the change was made to make the advisors *more independent* as they're not on the payroll of the people they are to advice. A general trend in public management the last decades has been to reduce inhouse staff and outsource expert competency, this is totally in line with that.
If anything the government listened too much to the expertise in early 2020. That's why they did not take action earlier.
Never assume malice when incompetency is a sufficient explanation.
There's also a simpler explanation at hand: a change in the organizational structure. The health authority still relies on advice from researchers. Maybe the change was made to make the advisors *more independent* as they're not on the payroll of the people they are to advice. A general trend in public management the last decades has been to reduce inhouse staff and outsource expert competency, this is totally in line with that.
If anything the government listened too much to the expertise in early 2020. That's why they did not take action earlier.
Never assume malice when incompetency is a sufficient explanation.