Dame Kate Bingham, the former vaccine tsar, reported significant internal conflict between UK government departments during the pandemic, specifically between the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department of Health. Bingham highlighted ethical failures in prioritizing the needs of clinically vulnerable individuals, stating the vaccine taskforce (VTF) aimed to protect not just the vaccine-responsive population, but all, including the immunocompromised. Despite this mandate and including various therapeutics in the VTF's scope, the government failed to procure essential prophylactic treatments like Evusheld, which Bingham lamented as a severe oversight.
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.
That wasn't just to protect those people who could respond to a vaccine, but to protect all people, including the immunocompromised.
I absolutely felt that, yes, from late October 2020. The government did not make an advance purchase of Evusheld and it was never supplied.
Collection
[
|
...
]