Vaccine Taskforce

The Vaccine Taskforce in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was set up in April 2020 by the Second Johnson ministry, in collaboration with Chief Scientific Advisor Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, in order to facilitate the path towards the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK and its global distribution.

[1] The taskforce coordinated the research efforts of government with industry, academics and funding agencies in order to expedite vaccine development and deployment.

[1] On 1 July, Bingham told the Science and Technology Select Committee that Sarah Gilbert and "Oxford University (are) leading the world in developing a vaccine against COVID-19 and offers the best chance of having something protective against the virus as we go into winter.

[10] A government press release of 20 October shed further light on the initial formation of the taskforce, stating that it was created under the auspices of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in May 2020.

[16] As of that month, the steering group was made up of:[17] On 20 October 2020, the Financial Times reported that potential COVID-19 vaccines would be selected for testing by the taskforce towards the end of the first quarter of 2021, but this was dependent on the outcome of "characterisation studies".

The work of the taskforce was bolstered by a further tranche of £19.7 million in funding for clinical trial-related blood testing facilities at Public Health England, specifically at PHE Porton Down.

[21] It was reported the following day that Bingham had warned in the Lancet article that first-generation COVID-19 vaccines would probably not be perfect, and would only lessen symptoms rather than prevent infection and that they "might not work for everyone or for long".