The Week - UK (2021-02-06)

24 NEWS

“Morethan1 00 ,000peoplehavediedin
BritainofCovid-19,”saidTomMcTague
inTheAtlantic.Thatismorethaninany
countryinEurope,andisalmosttwice
thenumberinGermany.Onapercapita
measure,Britainisthe“worst-hitG7nation”

• andthatreflectsa“catastrophicfailureof
  governance”.BackinMarch 2 020,Boris
  Johnson’sChiefScientificAdvisertoldMPs
  thata“good”outcomewouldbeifdeaths
  werekeptbelow 20 ,000.Owingtoaseries
  ofmissteps,they’refivetimesthatnumber,
  andstillrising.“Andyet,Britainhasalso
  shownwisdom.”Itsvaccinationprogramme
  has“racedaheadofeveryothercountryin
  Europe”.Around 1 4%ofthepopulationhas
  hadatleastonejab,andifallgoestoplan,it
  hasbeensuggestedthateveryoneovertheage
  of 50 couldhavehadone(oratleastbeen
  offeredone)bytheendofMarch.

“Successhasmanyfathers,”saidGlenOweninTheMailon
Sunday,and“ministersandscientists”havejostledforpraisefor
“theUK’snimble,world-beating strategy”.Nearthe frontof the
queuewasHealth SecretaryMattHancock–who inavaccine
planningmeetinglast Aprilposed thisquestion: “Inayear’stime,
what decisionswillwe wish wehad
takennow?”Hisconclusion wasthat
while the UK’svaccineexpertisewas
amongthebestin theworld,ithad
insufficient capabilityto manufacture
vaccines,withjustonespecialist plant,
inLiverpool.Presciently,he warned
thatitwasriskytorelyon imports–andthedecision wasmade
to ramp updomestic production capacity.It wasforthissame
reason that when thedevelopersoftheOxfordvaccine proposed
teamingup withthe USpharmagiant Merck,Hancockvetoedthe
deal.Merck hadconsiderableexpertiseinthefield,butHancock
wasconcernedthatPresidentTrump mighttrytostopthe export
of vaccines, and Mercksaiditcouldnot guarantee supply.

“Enter the Anglo-SwedishfirmAstraZeneca,”said Daniel
BoffeyandDanSabbaghin The Guardian,“whoseFrenchchief
executivePascal Soriotwasatrusted figureinpoliticalcircles”.
AstraZeneca wasnotconsidered avaccinespecialist, butSoriot
waspreparedtogivethe Governmenttheguaranteesit wanted,
andtosellthevaccineatnoprofit duringthepandemic,“which
waswhat Oxford’s scientists wanted”.It wassigned asOxford’s
partneron30April–just threemonths aftertheOxfordteam
hadfirstconvened, on 30January,todiscuss howtocombatthe

crisisunfoldinginWuhan.Andjustafortnight

afterthat,AstraZenecasignedadealtodeliver

100 milliondosestotheUK.Ministersagreed

topayafewmillionupfront,allowingthe

companytobuildamanufacturingsystem

• andtheUKtodemandthatitscitizens
  bevaccinatedfirst.Britain’sspeedinall
  thisprovedtobeoftheessence:asSoriot
  explainedlastweek,the“brewingprocess”for
  thevaccinetakesthreemonths,andtheyieldis
  uncertain.AstraZenecaexperiencedglitches,
  buthadtime tofixthem,andstillobtain
  regulatoryapprovalinDecember.

Ifwe’rehandingoutplauditsforthesuccessof

theGovernment’svaccineprocurement,credit

mustgotoKateBingham,saidSeanO’Neill

inTheTimes.InApril,theventurecapitalist

(andcompetitivebogsnorkeller)gotacall

fromBorisJohnson.“Iwantyoutostop

peopledying,”hetoldher.Herappointment,asheadoftheUK’s

VaccineTaskforce,wasnotuniversallywelcomed.Tomany,it

lookedlikecronyism:sheisafriendofthePM’ssister,andis

marriedto Tory MPJesseNorman.Moreover, she had, asshe

admitted,noexperience invaccines. But sheisabiochemistry

graduatewithan MBAfrom Harvardwhorunsabiotechfund.

She assembledateamof privatesector

experts,in science,technologyand

logistics;and withinafortnight,they’d

recommendedashortlistofprojects

for investment.Negotiatingadvance

purchasecontractsfor vaccines that

mightnevercometofruition was not

simple.“The40 million doses fromPfizer andthe 100 million

fromAstraZeneca are theprogramme’sworkhorses.”Butthis

week,twomorefirms–Janssenand Novavax–reportedpositive

trialresults,potentiallyadding90 milliondosesto UKstocks.

Theroll-outisgoingwell,saidJonathanKitsononCapX.But

thereremain threatsto the system:suppliescould bedisrupted;

andthevirus couldkeepmutating.Havingfactories inBritain

reduces theriskoftheformer; but noUKplantproducesmRNA

vaccines–the type madebyPfizer/BioNTech.And itisthese

vaccinesthataremostquicklymodified, tocombatnewvariants.

Happily,“asolution ison its way”:theVaccinesManufacturing

&InnovationCentreisafacilitythatwillbeable torespondfast

to mutations, asit promisesto produce tensof millionsof

vaccines ayear.Accelerating its construction would notbe cheap,

butitwouldbe well worththe moneyif itsavedusfromanother

economically crippling lockdown whileweawaitanew vaccine.

Talking points

THEWEEK6February 2021

Vaccines: where did it all go so right?

“Ministersandscientistshavejostled

for praise for the UK’s nimble,

world-beating strategy”

KateBingham:thevaccinetsar

ElizabethHurleycaused a

furore when she tweeted a

racy photo of herself outside

in last week’s snow, wearing

nothing but bikini bottoms and

an unbuttoned fluffy jacket.

Speculating that the photos

had been taken by her 18-year-

old son,Piers Morgansaid it

wasabit “creepy” (as well as

“thirsty”–for attention). But

Hurley was happy to set the

record straight. “These pics

were in fact taken by my

80-year-old mother,” she

tweeted. “Not entirely sure if

that puts minds at rest or not.”

Filming sex scenes has

never beenastraightforward

business, says actorSimon

Williamsin The Oldie. He was

once in bed withJan Harvey

when the sound technician

heardarustling noise. “The

director peeled back the duvet

to reveal that we both had our

scripts tucked down our

knickers.” Onacoldmorning

in 1976, he hadalove scene

withGlenda Jackson,which

didn’t go well for different

reasons. “We weren’t really

each other’s cup of tea, and I

was reminded of the old

cartoon:amiddle-aged

couple, becalmed mid-coitus,

and she’s saying, ‘Can’t you

think of anyone either?’” On

another job, his love interest

wasJoan Collins.Shewas

mainly concernedabout her

make-up, he recalls. “Joan

would whisper passionately

in my ear, ‘Mind my lipstick,

darling.’”

Forascene in the new film of

Blithe Spirit,inwhich she plays

Madame Arcati,Judi Dench

had to be winched above a

stage.Abit oldtohaveahook

between her shoulderblades,

she was hoisted up inalarge

sack. “AllIcould hear was the

crew shouting ’Watch the

bag!’,” she told Woman’s Own.

“I thought: ‘Charming!’”

Pick of the week’s

Gossip

©S

OLO SYNDICATION; TWITTER