The Long Shot: The Inside Story of the Race to Vaccinate Britain

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Kate Bingham and Tim Hames The Long Shot: The Inside Story of the Race to Vaccinate Britain Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event For years in Wales, we’ve had a really lovely man who comes and cleans our windows,” she says. “He’s done this for years and is very good at it… but he’s never really said anything to me before. How Covid-19 vaccines went from the laboratory to people’s arms – the inside story of an extraordinary national campaign against all odds As governments across the world were scrambling to jump to the front of the vaccine queue in July 2020, Kate Bingham’s phone pinged. It was one of the most pivotal moments in my entire time as VTF [Vaccine Taskforce] chair,” Bingham recalls in her upcoming tell-all, The Long Shot: The Inside Story of the Race to Vaccinate Britain.

Bingham’s husband is Jesse Norman MP, then the financial secretary to the Treasury. Bingham has no difficulty demonstrating that this has nothing to do with anything, but that didn’t stop the Guardian’s jibes, its “chumocracy” tables and the rest.

The ears of the National Audit Office may burn (she dubs their “help” a foolish and expensive joke); most everyone else emerges from this tale, written with the help of Tim Hames (a former chief leader writer for the Times), with due credit and generous thanks. Indeed, Bingham’s candid account will be uncomfortable reading for those who nurse a dogmatic hostility to “insiders”.

Kate Bingham will talk about her book The Long Shot, is an extraordinarily compelling and revealing account of seven turbulent months at the heart of government. Here she tells the full story for the first time, sharing lessons for future pandemics and offering advice on how government can work more successfully with industry. It’s a vital record of a unique moment in history and an inspiration to support the next generation of scientists. She’s also furious about the Government’s disinterest in antibody therapeutics. Antibodies, the proteins produced by the body to fight off an infection, can be triggered through vaccination. But for half a million immunosuppressed people in the UK this is not always the case – a lab-made version can protect them instead. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month.Bingham with a plaster on her arm after starting her Novavax trial at the Royal Free Hospital in October 2020 Paterson Joseph Interviewed by Suzi Feay The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho Exeter College: Marquee 12:00pm Fri 31 Friday, 31 March 2023 See this event

The VTF had submitted a business case and initial budget to the Treasury, but when she asked the then Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, why approval had not yet been granted, he “had no idea” what she was referring to. their intelligence – this makes a huge difference for a speaker. In the Oxford audience I encountered many experts in the field my book covered and even one of the ambassadors I’d quoted Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial?When I observed that it would be a miracle if we received 30m AstraZeneca doses by Christmas, Matt simply snapped. He kept being told by experts that things were impossible, he said, only to find out later that they were perfectly possible if enough effort was made. From a remote cottage, Bingham juggled vaccine suppliers, Whitehall, the media circus… as deaths mounted and the world shut down. Political manoeuvring, miscommunications and administrative meddling nearly jeopardised the project. But perseverance and expertise paid off. An incisive behind-the-scenes look at the challenges Bingham faced in her role… The authors combine a lucid explanation of the scientific breakthroughs needed to create the first Covid vaccine with an insider look at the politics that hampered the taskforce’s efforts. The result is a valuable addition to the literature documenting the crisis.’