I consider his response inevitable given two factors: His personality and the fact he has been having to deal with a never ending stream of utter bullshit and rancid politics for nearly two years.
I mention his personality because I recall an appearance before a committee soon after the first wave, when some of the expert advisors had started to positioning themselves defensively, even if that meant throwing each other under the bus. He got arsey about a question and called it incredibly facile or words to that effect.
I wont try to catalogue all the bullshit he has had to deal with, but I'm not surprised he gives such questions shorter shrift now than he may have been capable of at the start. Some questions that could charitably have been called fair near the start of the pandemic are really not once we've experienced a number of deadly waves. And the people repeatedly pushing such lines, and the politics behind such stuff, are a disgusting pandemic disgrace.
I've always been rude but even I was capable of explaining stuff with slightly less vitriol at the start of the pandemic than I am now. The pandemic scum have been told the answers to these things plenty of times before, but they carry on regardless. They arent interested in the truth, they ignore the fact we cannot find some way to magically bypass these issues and pretend the pandemic is over when it isnt. Fuck them and their deadly agendas. The likes of Whitty still welcome the opportunity to give an answer to a different sort of audience beyond the core scum who push such lies, bur clearly feel that they can still do that effectively by pointing out what idiotic bullshit politics is involved, rather than giving the benefit of the doubt to those who really dont deserve it. Other approaches may be required to reach some people, but someone else with infinite patience can try that, there is a place for those who will shame and call-out the hideous agendas and inversions of reality. To my eyes Whitty is more effective when he is blunt.