Former vaccines tsar describes ‘open warfare’ within UK government during Covid pandemic
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Dame Kate Bingham, who led the vaccine taskforce in 2020, said the clinically vulnerable were deprioritised and goals were not followed. There was “open warfare” between UK government departments during the pandemic, the former vaccines tsar has said, adding the failure to prioritise the needs of clinically vulnerable, immunocompromised individuals was ethically and morally wrong.
Dame Kate Bingham led the vaccine taskforce (VTF) – based in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – between May and December 2020, and played a pivotal role in persuading the government to back the development of a portfolio of potential jabs, as well as securing contracts for millions of doses.
But Bingham has told the Covid inquiry that when initially establishing the remit of the VTF she discovered conflict. “Therapeutics is obviously my background, so that is the natural area for me to have included in the remit,” she said. “What I did is what I would always do, which is to go and talk to the people involved, including in industry. And it was quite clear there was open warfare between BEIS and the Department of Health.”.
While the VTF did not take control of therapeutics, it did include in its remit both therapeutic antibodies – which could be given to people already infected with Covid – and prophylactic antibodies that can be given to people to protect them against infection. The latter included Evusheld, the prophylactic antibody cocktail produced by AstraZeneca.
