Why the UK is pushing so hard to be the first vaccine maker
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London — At the Global Vaccine Summit he hosted in June, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was keen to remind the audience that it was a British doctor, Edward Jenner, who pioneered vaccinations.
Now it is the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford that is leading the drive for an inoculation against the coronavirus.
The pandemic has blown every leader off course, but Johnson has been among the hardest hit. The UK recorded the worst death toll in Europe and the biggest economic meltdown mere months after leaving the EU. Johnson concedes there will have to be an inquiry into his handling of it.
That is why the UK coming up with the first universally recognised barrier against Covid-19 is the ultimate prize for a government that after another humiliating policy U-turn needs to redeem itself somehow. Brexit, after all, was about showing the world the UK was better off alone even during a crisis.
Johnson is the eternal optimist, Covid-19 vaccine is the modern-day Holy Grail and the UK finds itself the knight leading the quest for a globally accepted inoculation. The reason, despite missteps over procuring personal protective equipment for health workers and testing for the virus, is because of its history of medical research.
It explains why ministers moved quickly to take control of the push, according to conversations with scientists, company officials, and government advisers.
“The UK is looking for a place in the world as an independent entity and has an opportunity to show real leadership in the vaccine space,” said John Bell, professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, who is working with the government on its vaccine programme.
Given the government’s track record during the pandemic, the risks are high. There has been little sign of public backslapping since the team at Oxford — the alma mater of Johnson and his two Tory predecessors — became a clear front-runner in July, a month after the prime minister’s reminder of the UK’s scientific pedigree.
The Jenner Institute was well positioned to start work on a shot after years of work on a related coronavirus, Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS.
So when Johnson’s government found the university was talking with US pharmaceutical companies about manufacturing the potential vaccine they balked at the idea and began to plot a strategy to keep it British.
GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca were the obvious onshore manufacturers. Glaxo was ...
Now it is the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford that is leading the drive for an inoculation against the coronavirus.
The pandemic has blown every leader off course, but Johnson has been among the hardest hit. The UK recorded the worst death toll in Europe and the biggest economic meltdown mere months after leaving the EU. Johnson concedes there will have to be an inquiry into his handling of it.
That is why the UK coming up with the first universally recognised barrier against Covid-19 is the ultimate prize for a government that after another humiliating policy U-turn needs to redeem itself somehow. Brexit, after all, was about showing the world the UK was better off alone even during a crisis.
Johnson is the eternal optimist, Covid-19 vaccine is the modern-day Holy Grail and the UK finds itself the knight leading the quest for a globally accepted inoculation. The reason, despite missteps over procuring personal protective equipment for health workers and testing for the virus, is because of its history of medical research.
It explains why ministers moved quickly to take control of the push, according to conversations with scientists, company officials, and government advisers.
“The UK is looking for a place in the world as an independent entity and has an opportunity to show real leadership in the vaccine space,” said John Bell, professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, who is working with the government on its vaccine programme.
Given the government’s track record during the pandemic, the risks are high. There has been little sign of public backslapping since the team at Oxford — the alma mater of Johnson and his two Tory predecessors — became a clear front-runner in July, a month after the prime minister’s reminder of the UK’s scientific pedigree.
The Jenner Institute was well positioned to start work on a shot after years of work on a related coronavirus, Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS.
So when Johnson’s government found the university was talking with US pharmaceutical companies about manufacturing the potential vaccine they balked at the idea and began to plot a strategy to keep it British.
GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca were the obvious onshore manufacturers. Glaxo was ...
