10 1GM Saturday October 17 2020 | the times
News
Ministers must urgently boost public
trust in vaccines and the Queen's
support may be the key to high levels of
uptake for a coronavirus jab, a govern-
ment adviser has said.
Heidi Larson, an expert on vaccine
misinformation, has been consulted by
No 10 amid fears that even if an effec-
tive vaccine is made available, doubts
over safety will stop enough people
being inoculated to achieve herd
immunity.
She has recommended that trusted
figures be recruited to reassure front-
line health workers and other high-risk
groups who are likely to be the priority
for a vaccination. The Queen, she told
The Times, was an obvious candidate,
especially to reach older people.
Research by the Vaccine Confidence
Project, which Professor Larson leads,
has suggested that only about half of
the public “strongly agrees” that vacci-
nes are safe. A YouGov poll from July
showed that 10 per cent said they would
not get a Covid jab and a further 20 per
cent were unsure.
As much of 80 per cent of the popula-
tion may have to be inoculated to gain
herd immunity, which would prevent
the explosive growth of new outbreaks.
“We are on the tipping point — we need
more of a buffer,” Professor Larson said.
The government announced
changes to the law yesterday to allow
thousands of health workers, including
physiotherapists and student nurses, to
administer Covid vaccinations. The
measures also permit the government
to promote a vaccine that has not been
through the usual licensing process.
An effective vaccine is not guaran-
teed and the government insists that no
safety shortcuts will be taken. However,
Professor Larson warns that resistance
is not only coming from science-denyi-
ng conspiracy theorists.
She fears that people with genuine
questions, who have been termed “vac-
cine hesitant”, are not being addressed.
“One of the keys is going to be design-
ing communication strategies that are
responsive to these emerging concerns,
not brushing them off,” she said. “I’ve
been called into a number of discus-
sions [with the government] on this. It’s
not clear to me that there’s a coherent
communication strategy.”
She urged officials to “use every min-
Anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists are
targeting coronavirus hotspots around
the country in an effort to spread their
message beyond London.
Last month thousands of protesters
held a “Freedom” rally in Trafalgar
Square against lockdown and mass cor-
onavirus vaccinations, claiming that
Covid was a “scam” and linked to the 5G
mobile network. The police clashed
with demonstrators and 16 people were
arrested after scuffles with officers.
Piers Corbyn, 73, brother of the
former Labour leader, was there along-
side David Icke, 68, the former footbal-
ler who has made a series of false claims
linking Covid-19 to 5G technology. Mr
Corbyn had previously been fined
£10,000.
After a series of protests in London
against coronavirus restrictions and
A
fter 15 years working for
“lads’ mags” such as
FHM and Loaded, Simon
Everitt took a gamble and
swapped photo shoots for
forestry (Lucy Bannerman writes).
On his first day, helping to clear
logs at the Sissinghurst estate in
Kent, he panicked. He was a picture
editor from Crystal Palace. What
was he doing?
“I was slugging these logs through
the mud. It was freezing cold. I
thought, ‘I’ve made a terrible,
terrible mistake. But I can’t go back
now; I’ve put everyone through the
wringer for this.’ ”
He had spent three years training
in countryside management and
arboriculture and took a 70 per cent
pay cut while he established himself
as an estate manager. It turned out
to be one of the best decisions he
ever made. “I feel like I’ve found my
niche. I was a pale, bloated corpse in
an office. Now I have my chainsaw
tickets and I can drive a tractor and
a combine harvester,” Mr Everitt,
45, said.
He manages three estates in
Sussex. His days are spent chopping
wood, building fences and making
hay. He feels happier and healthier.
“Every field is different. Every day is
different. It is very satisfying,” he
said. “I have no desire to become
head of the National Trust. I have no
further ambition, in terms of
material things. Realising that was
very liberating.”
The pandemic is forcing many
people to rethink their careers —
whether or not they want to. Rishi
Sunak, the chancellor, has warned
workers they will have to adapt as
certain sectors struggle.
Mr Everitt is one of many real-life
Fatimas who have answered the call
to retrain — Fatima being the name
of the ballerina in the government
campaign encouraging people to
consider a career in cybersecurity.
The campaign slogan — “Fatima’s
next job could be in cyber. (She just
doesn’t know it yet)” — was
“immensely patronising”, Mr Everitt
said, but sometimes it pays off to
close one door and open another.
“There’s no point saying, ‘I’ve
been doing this for a long time, it
has been successful in the past’.
Well, if it’s not anymore, then do
something different,” he said.
For 12 years Dan Pirrie, 43, had aQueen could be called on
to boost trust in vaccine
Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent ute you have now to start getting
people up to speed... I wouldn’t waste
too much more time”.
Professor Larson, who is American
and is based at the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said
that the Queen, who is 94, would be an
ideal messenger. “If there’s one thing
I’ve seen, and I’ve been here [in the UK]
for over a decade now, it’s the trust that
she gets. And she’s certainly in that
older cohort, so I think that’s actually
really, really smart,” Professor Larson
said.
“Here’s the big question — will she
get a vaccine? That may be a difficult
one. I think the Palace is going to have
to decide for themselves — do you want
to risk a new vaccine on the Queen? Or
do you want to keep her isolated?
They’re going to have to weigh those
risks. So I wouldn’t want to put her in a
spot — but she is an important voice.”
The introduction of a vaccine will
take several months, if not years, and
the government plans to train thou-
sands of health workers who do not
usually give vaccinations.
Other experts share Professor
Larson’s concerns. Danny Altmann,
professor of immunology at Imperial
College, is optimistic that a Covid-19 jab
will emerge. “I see vaccine hesitancy as
a bigger threat,” he said.
He fears that Britain could “sleep-
walk” into a “half-baked” Covid vacci-
nation campaign that fails to achieve
herd immunity. “It would doom us to
being a population and a species
that has this thing lurking in our lungs
for ever more, percolating at a low
level — and I hate that thought,” he
added.
A government spokesman said: “The
science is clear — vaccines save lives,
which is why we are leading a global
effort to find a Covid-19 vaccine. Vac-
cine misinformation in any form is
completely unacceptable and it is
everyone’s responsibility to seek NHS
advice, so that they have the right infor-
mation to make the right choice.
“Since the start of the pandemic, spe-
cialist UK government units have also
been working rapidly to identify and re-
but false information about coronavi-
rus, including working closely with
social media companies. We are also
developing world-leading plans to pro-
tect people online and will introduce
legislation as soon as possible.”
The head of Russia’s sovereign
wealth fund has said he will
reconsider referring to the Oxford
vaccine as “the monkey vaccine”
after a Times investigation
uncovered a disinformation
campaign against it.
The strategy, based around the
phrase “monkey vaccine”, involves
pictures, memes and video clips
intended to be seeded on social
media around the world then
amplified through Russian media.
The material, linked to groups andofficials inside Russia, includes
images of people taking the vaccine
and then turning into apes.
Kirill Dmitriev, who is head of the
Russian Direct Investment Fund,
has repeatedly referred to the
Oxford product as a “monkey
vaccine” in interviews and articles.
Speaking to The Times yesterday,
he condemned the campaign
against the Oxford vaccine, which is
made by Astrazeneca, and said that
his fund was not behind it. “We are
against this campaign, we ask for
detente, we believe the Astrazeneca
vaccine is a good vaccine,” said Mr
Dmitriev, whose fund backs Russia’s
Sputnik V vaccine.
Dominic Raab, the foreign
secretary, called the campaign “a
shabby piece of disinformation”.
It is unclear whether the Kremlin
was involved in commissioning this
attack on the Oxford vaccine, butTom Tugendhat, chairman of the
foreign affairs select committee, told
Times Radio. “Russia is a very
centralised state, and the idea that
this could be done without
permission from somebody in the
inner circle, is simply laughable.”
In a letter to The Times today, Sir
David Omand, a former head of
GCHQ, writes: “I doubt these lies
could be spread on Russian media
without the active connivance of the
Russian authorities.” He says that
the government “should make it
clear that the threat of hostile and
dangerous disinformation is
recognised and that those
responsible will be exposed and
sanctioned”.
The Oxford vaccine uses a
modified virus that normally infects
chimpanzees as a vector to carry in
the genetic material used to confer
immunity. Although chimpanzees
are not monkeys, it is this part of
the technology that has formed the
basis of the planned campaign.
The Russian vaccine, which has
been approved for emergency use,
takes the same approach, but uses a
virus that normally infects humans.
Mr Dmitriev has repeatedly
referred to the Oxford vaccine as
the “monkey vaccine”, including in a
post on his fund’s website entitled,
“Questions on Russia’s Sputnik V
vaccine answered, time for critics to
look for plank in own eyes”. That
article questions whether the
technology is likely to be as safe as
the approach taken by Russia
Yesterday he clarified that he
thought the Oxford technology was
sound, adding that his own fund had
invested in companies that
manufactured it and he hoped that
it was successful. “We believe that
the science is very good on the
Oxford vaccine,” he said, adding: “If
you want to, I can stop calling it
monkey vaccine,” he said, adding
that he could call it “chimpanzee
vaccine”.
Campaign against vaccine,
letters, Page 30Russian drops monkey jibe
Tom Whipple Science Editor
Manveen RanaThe Times investigation uncovered
the Russian disinformation campaignThe career
switchers
who found
dream jobs
News Coronavirus
Antivaxers focus on virus hotspots across country
vaccinations, antivaxers are now turn-
ing their focus to other areas of the UK
under the harshest restrictions.
Earlier this month Mr Corbyn and
Mr Icke’s son Jaymie spoke at a “Mid-
lands Freedom Rally” in Nottingham
where about 100 people gathered in the
city’s Old Market Square.
“Don’t stand by, stand up. Be a part of
the change you wish to see,” a poster for
the event said. “Speakers include Piers
Corbyn, Andrew Johnson and Jaymie
Icke. We do not consent! Stop new
normal. No lockdowns. No health pass-
ports. No Covid vax programs.”
On Sunday outside the Welsh parlia-
ment Mr Corbyn breached lockdown
rules to address crowds at a protest
against masks, vaccinations and 5G.
Under local lockdown rules no one is
allowed to enter or leave Cardiff with-
out a reasonable excuse and mass gath-
erings are banned.Mr Corbyn, 73, stood in front of a
large banner declaring “End all Covid
Vax” and “Take down 5G”.
Dozens of people attended the rally
and the crowds, who were not wear-
ing masks, carried banners and
placards saying “Covid is a
hoax”, “Freedom from tyran-
ny” and “Free your face”.
South Wales Police said
that two men and a woman
had been reported for summons
and are accused of breaching rules
by travelling into the city with-
out reasonable excuse.
On Wednesday Mr Cor-
byn held a demonstration
in Sheffield where he told
about 100 protesters who
had come from as far asManchester and London that Covid
was a “hoax”, saying: “The whole thing
is an orchestrated lie taking away your
rights.
“It is a hoax from start to finish and
the way we are going to win is we
are going to have to actively
break and be seen to be break-
ing the lockdown.”
Last week Mr Corbyn held a
rally in Bonn Square in Oxford
and today a rally is planned in
London by his organisa-
tion, Stop New
Normal. Another
rally is planned
for Liverpool this
weekend while
protesters will
target Man-
chester at the
end of the
month.Neil Johnston
Piers Corbyn broke
local rules in Cardiff