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

Praise for The Long Shot

The Long Shot is a gripping account of the UK Vaccine Taskforces response to the pandemic by a remarkable, determined, thoughtful and practical individual who was at the heart of the critical decisions that had to be made. I spoke with her frequently throughout 2020 as we battled logistical headwinds and the media storms in development of the Oxford vaccine and was always better for our chats, absorbing the positive energy that she emanates and benefiting from her wisdom. Her clarity of thought and action in such a dark and turbulent time is a seam running through the book, and I know for certain that her efforts saved many lives. But I have to disagree with the title, because the book shows that it really wasnt such a long shot with Kate at the helm.

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard,

Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group

at the University of Oxford

Fast-paced and very compelling The Vaccine Taskforce will always be remembered as British science at its very best.

Sir Jonathan Symonds,

Chairman of GSK

An excellent readcapturing the exceptional pace and energy of everyone involved in discovering and producing effective therapies against Covid-19. All in all, this is a book I will treasure.

Sir Mene Pangalos,

Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca

Kate would like to dedicate this book to Jesse for his constant encouragement and love.

Tim would like to dedicate this book to Julia for exactly the same reasons.

To Ian Armitage for the original idea for this book and his inspirational backing for it throughout.

The proceeds from this book are being divided equally between two fantastic charitable institutions.

Kate has chosen the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE) in Hereford. This new university breaks the mould of current engineering higher education with a curriculum that places its emphasis on learning by doing and working in teams. It also has a real focus on women.

Tim has selected Kindred2, a charitable foundation that concentrates on advocacy, education and development in the very earliest years of life.

This is a volume with two authors but one voice. It has been a joint enterprise throughout, which started when Tim was encouraged to write a book about the Vaccine Taskforce and he asked Kate whether she would be willing to co-operate with him. We are equally responsible for the content. We did, though, have to make a decision about whether it should be written in the first-person or the third-person. As so much of this story is about what Kate thought, observed and did, it seemed to make sense to write the words with her as the sole narrator. We hope that you the reader will agree.

Kate Bingham and Tim Hames

Early May 2020. Over the previous few months, a lethal new coronavirus had leapt beyond its original Chinese borders. In the course of an ever-more-anxious March, the disease had pushed British hospitals to breaking point and swept through care homes. The whole country now languished in lockdown. So, like everyone who could, I ran all my work from home, in my case a cottage near Hay-on-Wye.

That afternoon I faced a diary clash. Two online meetings, both compulsory, both running at exactly the same time. One meeting involved my proper job: the one I was paid to do. I work in biotech venture capital, a real-world version of the TV show Dragons Den. Investors trust me and my team with their money, which we then deploy to build up the most promising biotech companies we can find. If those companies do well, and if their new drugs work, then all of those involved including, vitally, the patients do well too.

But Id also been roped into something else.

Years ago, Id worked with Sir Patrick Vallance when he led the Research and Development team at GlaxoSmithKline, a behemoth of a pharmaceutical company. He and I had worked to set up biotech companies to create new drugs for pain, hearing loss and dementia. Patrick was now the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and, in response to the pandemic, had set up a Vaccine Taskforce, or VTF. He had been catapulted from relative anonymity and was now never off the nations screens.

Patrick wanted the VTF to be supported by an Expert Advisory Group, and duly assembled impressive figures from the worlds of science and pharmaceuticals. But still it lacked someone with an in-depth knowledge of the smaller but intensely innovative biotech sector. Patrick asked me to help supply just that biotech perspective, and Id jumped on board. That May afternoon, our Advisory Group was due another regular catch-up.

One afternoon. Two meetings at the same time. Both essential.

Theres no good way to manage these things. I had two computer screens set up in my sons bedroom, now my office and switched headsets from one to the other, doing a poor job in each meeting.

As I was performing this impossible juggling act, in came a text message from Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary: Can we talk? Somewhat grumpily, I reminded him that I was in a meeting the Expert Advisory Group one that he was meant to be in himself. If he wanted to talk, he could do it there, or immediately afterwards.

As soon as everyone clicked leave, Matt called.

Kate, the Prime Minister would like you to accept the position of VTF Chair. What do you think?

What did I think?!

I thought: after thirty years in the industry Ive come to know a hell of a lot about biotech and drug discovery and development. But very little about vaccines.

I thought: I already have a job. One I like and am good at. Its also a job that makes a real contribution to the world.

I thought: investors and team members rely on me. I cant just stroll away from existing commitments. I face urgent duties elsewhere ones Im contractually obliged to deliver.

I thought: I have a husband and family. Any deeper into the world of the pandemic and my life will be swallowed up. Did I really want that?

And also: I knew that, to put it brutally simply, vaccines mostly dont work. Drug and vaccine discovery is hard in all circumstances. But drug discovery at breakneck speed for a never-before-seen virus amid an international crisis? Was this asking the impossible? And something I did know about viruses: they mutate. Although scientists had already started developing early vaccines, it was perfectly plausible that those vaccines, by the time they were ready, would prove impotent against newly emerging strains of Covid.

I felt I was being asked to take responsibility for a huge amount of government expenditure that would, most likely, prove completely wasted. The longest of all long shots.

Once I got off the call I swore so loudly and insistently that my husband Jesse and daughter Nell came running to see what was wrong.

On the phone Id told Matt that Id think about it, that I needed twenty-four hours, but I was already heading in one direction. Yes, it was an interesting idea. Also, of course, it was flattering. But although the country certainly needed a Vaccine Taskforce, surely I wasnt the right person to lead it. I was already thinking how to refuse gracefully. I was rehearsing how to say No.

But what tragedy was unfolding? It was the crisis that had changed all of our lives. It had emerged from nowhere and spread everywhere. Infections and deaths were mounting inexorably. The pandemic had ruptured economic activity more than any recession. It had triggered restrictions on personal freedom that would once have been unimaginable. It placed the Prime Minister himself on the edge of his life in an intensive care unit.