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

Product Information

Catapulted into a national crisis, Bingham's eclectic team secured the first vaccine doses administered in the West and saved thousands of lives in the UK as new variants struck. A blueprint of how industry, academia and government can work together to address a question of global importance, with lessons for other future crises. The tragic and magic is all told in a thrilling uplifting and yet ultimately depressing (the government couldn't care less about preparing for the next pandemic) account is simply brilliant. I sympathise greatly with her thoughts on the internal politics within HMG: private sector and public sector are like oil and water - they don't mix well. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. The book does start rather slowly with Bingham using the first four chapters to set the scene and explaining how the task force was put together and its members selected. It also demonstrates how science and the effective application of science are critical to solving the world’s problems, and that these solutions will only be delivered with a razor-sharp focus on outcomes rather than on following procedures.With the revelations concerning partygate and other scandals it does make one question what sort of the administration Johnson was running in No 10. But I have to disagree with the title, because the book shows that it really wasn’t such a "long shot" with Kate at the helm. At SV, Kate co-manages a number of global biotech venture funds which make investments into innovative companies developing novel therapeutics and she helped launch the Dementia Discovery Fund. This is an unmissable insider view into how the Vaccine Taskforce beat the odds and delivered the scientific miracle we all waited for.

Finally, Bingham finishes off the book with reflections on working with government and the issues that hold Government back from delivering on service and projects. It appears that the Government has lost interest in both vaccines and pandemic preparedness, but it is also an example of the usual story of Government not learning from its mistakes. Instead, they carried on with usual Government bureaucracy and inefficiency, with civil servants and politicians spending time protecting their 'fiefdoms' and promoting their own interests. Dame Kate Bingham served as the Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, on a seven-month unpaid secondment, steering a team of experts to deliver the world’s fastest Covid-19 vaccination programme.She is Managing Partner at life sciences venture capital firm SV Health Investors where she co-leads SV’s biotech franchise which has a long history of developing transformational new medicines.

We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from. When we get past the introductory chapters, we get a really good insight into how by adopting a venture capitalist business type approach with a clear focus on outputs - in contrast to the Civil Service's focus on process – the vaccine task force was a success.

Catapulted into a national crisis, Bingham’s eclectic team secured the first vaccine doses administered in the West and saved thousands of lives in the UK as new variants struck.

Now, nearly every adult in Britain has had the jab, lockdowns have ended and we can finally live with Covid. From a cottage miles away from Westminster, Bingham juggled vaccine suppliers, Whitehall, the media circus - and her daughter's exams. We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed.

nearly complete absence in the civil service of scientific, industrial, commercial and manufacturing skills'.