By Alistair Smout
LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Britain is only marginally better prepared for a new pandemic than it was for COVID-19, the former head of Britain’s vaccine task force said on Wednesday. , criticizing the dismantling of certain structures that helped her emerge from the pandemic. .
Britain has one of the highest coronavirus death rates in the world with more than 177,000 deaths, although its rapid supply and deployment of vaccines has helped the government lift lockdown restrictions earlier than d ‘others.
Kate Bingham, who bought Britain’s COVID vaccines in 2020, said there was no more leadership to prepare possible new variants and some manufacturing capacity had been mothballed.
“We have the capabilities and yet, systematically, the things that we put in place are being dismantled,” Bingham told lawmakers on Wednesday.
“I don’t think we’re in a much better place to deal with another pandemic. I think we’re slightly better.”
Bingham said more work was needed to improve the ability of vaccines to stop the transmission of new variants of COVID-19, and she was unsure why a deal for more vaccines from Moderna, reached in June, hadn’t. been signed.
“I absolutely welcome the concept of a great relationship with Moderna to supply and bring both R&D and manufacturing to the UK. So I’m very positive. I haven’t seen that happen,” he said. she declared. “It just seems strange that nothing has been signed yet.”
Deputy Health Minister Neil O’Brien said that because the general agreement reached with Moderna in June included more flexibility and openness, the deal was complicated to close.
“Because we’re buying a flexible tool, it’s a fundamentally complicated negotiation … we’re extremely close to finalizing the remaining details,” O’Brien told lawmakers.
“We have agreed on the essentials of everything that needs to be agreed, and we are now working out the details.” (Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by William James)
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