UK has missed chances to prepare for future pandemics, says ex-vaccines tsar

The former vaccinestsar said that opportunities have been missed to prepare the UK for future Pandemics.

Dame Kate was the managing partner at the life sciences venture capital firm. She led a team that persuaded the government to back a wide range of potential jabs, securing millions of doses.

On the anniversary of legal Covid restrictions being lifted, she praised quick government decision-making, as well as Boris Johnson's willingness to put money into the vaccines upfront.

She said there had been missed opportunities, including not pursuing the creation of bulk antibody-manufacturing capabilities in the UK.

Antibodies are made in the body to fight infections. They can be triggered through vaccine, but it's not always the case for people with suppressed immune systems. One way to protect people with weak immune systems is to give them lab-made anti-bacteria.

One of the therapies that relies on such manufacturing is Evusheld, a combination of two long-acting antibodies that helps to prevent Covid infections in people who can't be vaccine-vaccinated. While approved for use by the Medicines and healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the UK hasn't placed an order for the therapy.

The 2020 achievements and future strategy report states that the ability to make antibodies in bulk is critical for future Pandemic Preparedness.

It is necessary to have bio-processors with a capacity of up to 20,000 litres in order for the UK to be able to export other biological products.

We aren't close to that capacity. She said that the reason for the situation is simple. She said there wasn't enough government appetite.

A recent advertisement for the new director of the Covid-19 vaccine unit within the UK Health Security Agency failed to mention industry experience, a science background or experience in drug discovery.

It doesn't talk about ability to manage. The civil service is going back to plan A, which means they control everything again.

The vaccine task force was created due to the fact that they didn't have those skills.

If asked, she wouldn't return to her previous role.

She said that they should have hired someone to deal with it. They shouldn't have to scramble for help from the outside.

She was best known for her role in securing a panoply of Covid vaccines for the UK.

She predicted a high failure rate. The experts thought it was a 15% chance that a vaccine would work. It was less than 10% for any vaccine that hadn't gotten into the clinic.

The task force decided to back seven vaccines based on a range of technologies, six of which have been approved by the UK's MHRA.

The reason it was so good initially was that we started working with the health care teams. Even though we didn't know which vaccines would work or which ones would be first, we knew that adeno and mRNA were likely to be the first ones to work. We knew that there would be one that needed super cool freezers and one that wouldn't be so bad.

The Novavax jab has not been available in the UK despite being approved for use.

Unlike the other Covid vaccines, the Novavax jab uses an older type of technology that has been used for vaccines against other diseases. It was hoped that it would be taken up by people who are unvaccinated because of concerns over vaccines.

The need for new Covid jabs is a concern given the impact of long Covid and the fact that current vaccines offer less protection against infections.

There is data suggesting that Omicron-specific vaccines offer little advantage over current jabs and that it is important to move away from needle-based vaccines due to their high cost. She thinks we need to go there for patches, sprays, pills, implants and anything else.

Many countries in the global south are struggling to access jabs because of the UK's vaccine programme.

One goal of the vaccine task force was to make provision for international distribution of vaccines so that the benefits of UK leadership and investment in this area could be widely shared.

She defended the work of the task force despite the fact that the distribution of vaccines had not gone well.

She said that those are political decisions. We had to make sure that if we had surpluses, we'd get them shipped out.

The UK tried to help other countries by offering fill and finish services, and sharing contacts, while data from the UK would have been used in the registration of Covid vaccines.

She said that the fact that they were looking to acquire vaccines for the UK wasn't meant to stop other people from doing it.