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. He was a lecturer in Politics at Oxford University 1989–96, specialising in American and British Government. This is an unmissable insider view into how the Vaccine Taskforce beat the odds and delivered the scientific miracle we all waited for. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin.

These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Good on her - success is not just about creating high performance teams, it is also about identifying and addressing hypocrisy and poor performance, and ultimately punishing failure. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. I spoke with her frequently through 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. No and the book argues that Britain will probably be less prepared than it was for the covid pandemic.SV’s investments have led to the launch of twenty drugs for inflammatory and autoimmune disease, blindness and cancer. Of course, having a working vaccine is only part of the story, it also has to be manufactured and administered which presented their own challenges as described by Bingham. The author proceeds will be donated to the new university The New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE) and early years education, development and advocacy charity Kindred Squared. Covid is still spreading, probably mutating and just waiting for the next advantageous circumstance to jump back into wider global populations.

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.

Kate Bingham’s new book, The Long Shot, is a gripping account of the UK Government Vaccine Task Force’s 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. She is a board member of the Francis Crick Institute and was awarded a DBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her services as Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce. From a small cottage, Bingham juggled vaccine suppliers, Whitehall, the media circus – and her daughter’s exams. 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.

Bingham and Hames’s accessible, edge-of-the-seat account of how British innovators vaccinated the UK and much of the rest of the world is also a quiet, compelling, non-partisan argument for dialogue between business and politics. 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. 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. But with the UK government in turmoil, this compelling book may be most valuable as a fresh vision for how to lead in a crisis.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. From a remote cottage, Bingham juggled vaccine suppliers, Whitehall, the media circus… as deaths mounted and the world shut down. As the book comes toward its end Bingham highlights the failure of the Government to establish a clear industrial strategy for vaccines and put in place measures and facilities to counter any future pandemics.

As an outsider rooted in business, she offers strong and specific recommendations for transforming government.The Long Shot is published as readers appear to have tired of Covid-19 and the miraculous vaccines have become more of a seasonal chore. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Political manoeuvring, miscommunications and administrative meddling nearly jeopardised the project. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The book warns this kind of success is not likely to be repeated without mass production facilities in Britain.