Stakes are high for Boris Johnson’s government that is hard hit by the Covid-19 health crisis
The Jenner Institute, the home of a University of Oxford human trial into a coronavirus vaccine, in Oxford, the UK. Picture: BLOOMBERG/DAVID LEVENSONAt 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.
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.
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. Health secretary Matt Hancock called Kate Bingham, a venture capitalist in the health industry who had been helping the government look for new drugs and vaccines, to see if she would lead the effort.
So far, Bingham’s task force has bought a medley of 340-million doses from the four groups after two more deals on Friday.
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