The UK’s 2020 vaccine chief today revealed she cracked open the wine and ‘broke dry January’ last night after learning another jab set be made in Britain was proven to beat Covid-19.
Kate Bingham, who stepped down as chairwoman of the UK Vaccine Taskforce on January 1, also revealed that she was one of the people who took part in the Novavax trial that found doses are 89.3 per cent effective at fighting coronavirus including the mutant strain found in Kent.
Hailing the third jab expected to get approval in Britain in February, she said today: ‘I have a massive smile on my face. When I heard the news last night, I’m afraid I broke the Dry January rule and celebrated with a glass of wine.’
She added: ‘I’m actually a participant in the Novavax trial, so I’m especially happy that that trial has shown that the vaccine is so effective – not only against the original variant, but especially against both the Kent variant that we’ve seen, the new variant in the UK, as well as the South African variant, which is one of definite concern.’
Ms Bingham said the current crop of vaccines and their success was ‘phenomenal’ but that the need for repeat jabs to cope with the mutating virus meant that injections should be phased out in favour of pills and sprays, when the technology allows. She said: ‘Frankly, two injections delivered by healthcare professionals is not a good way of delivering vaccines.’
The investigators on the Novavax trial said they intended to complete the third phase of the study and submit the results to UK regulator the MHRA within the next couple of weeks. Supplies aren’t expected until the second half of 2021.
Ms Bingham also stepped into the row between the EU and AstraZeneca or the Oxford jab developed in the UK, saying that while Britain ordered 100million doses in May – they took the gamble to increase production capacity with pharmaceutical firms in February 2020 and it has paid off, she said.
But despite Britain’s advantage she said: ‘We are interdependent and I don’t think that the idea that there are going to be trade barriers is something that we should be considering.’
In April Boris Johnson had called Kate Bingham, a biochemist turned businesswoman married to Tory MP Jesse Norman, and asked her to take the unpaid role as the head of Britain’s vaccine task force telling her that the brief was simply: ‘Stop people from dying.’ Her appointment led to accusations of cronyism, especially as she had no experience in the vaccine business.
She was also criticised before leaving the role at the start of 2021 after she billed the taxpayer £670,000 for a team of boutique PR consultants to oversee her media strategy. It also emerged that she was planning an online tickets priced at $2,460 (£1,870) per head.
But the UK’s scientists and politicians have hailed her as a hero who has helped Britain secure millions more doses of vaccine than the majority of countries in the world.
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