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METERTo everyone’s surprise, we have learned that Boris Johnson can, only occasionally, activate his brain before speaking. Having started Wednesday night’s press conference in Downing Street with its usual shattered patriot and militaristic metaphors about “the spotlight of science” and that Britain pioneered vaccination in the 18th century, it actually abstained twice. of saying that Brexit was responsible for the UK being the first country to authorize the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. Just imagine. A prime minister known for being a liar and opportunistic chancer decided to tell the truth for once.
I wish the same could be said of some of your fellow cabinet members. On Wednesday alone, Matt Hancock and Jacob Rees-Mogg had described the vaccine as a Brexit bond. On Thursday, Gavin Williamson, the son of the secretary of education who has yet to progress to the high school level and whose career since winning the Chimney Dealer of the Year award two years in a row in 2006 and 2007 has been a mystery to all us, nationalism raised a new level. When asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari if Brexit had meant that the UK got the vaccine before the EU and US, Gav ditched.
“Well, I think we have the best people in this country,” he said, “and obviously we have the best medical regulator, much better than the French, much better than the Belgians, much better than the Americans have. That doesn’t surprise me at all because we are a much better country than each and every one of them. “Even for Gav, the man who before being fired as defense secretary, Private Pike, for leaking reports from the National Security Council, He had said in response to the Salisbury poisonings that “Russia should shut up and go”, this was fine there.
Think about the level of stupidity for a moment. Not only does Williamson have no first-hand knowledge of medical regulators in other countries; do not forget that he is also the secretary of education who did not detect in March that the coronavirus pandemic would have consequences with the cancellation of school exams; apparently he doesn’t know. that Pfizer is an American company and that the vaccine is produced in Belgium.
Aside from his willingness to casually insult the rest of the world for being dirtier than the UK (Gav would like to one day compare global death rates from coronavirus), he had pointed to two countries that were at the forefront of vaccine development. It was a lot like saying that Britain was now leading the space race because we have Tim Peake.
I would have thought that Williamson might want to cut his losses at that point and try to turn the conversation back to his department’s plans to facilitate exams next year. Or failing that, he plans to admit girls to Eton: something that may have led to some unwanted pregnancies in Boris’s time.
But he continued through it all, ignoring his special advisor who must have been making frantic throat-slitting gestures in the corner of the room. When asked again if he was actually saying that Brexit had given the UK an advantage, he continued to investigate. “I think just being able to get on with things,” he said, “deliver it and have the brilliant people at our medical regulator make it happen means that the people in this country will be the first in the western world – in the world – to get that vaccine from Pfizer. “
As if the rest of the world is deliberately slow, mired in a useless bureaucracy to deny its people the vaccine. One day you may realize that the race to find a vaccine has been a global effort. One has to wonder what Kompromat Gav has over the prime minister so that he somehow remains cabinet minister.
So thank goodness for England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam, the rising star of the government’s scientific advisory team, who had been sent out to do all the morning press rounds, arguing that she was almost the only one. person at home, the public relied on independent advice. Speaking on BBC Breakfast and Radio 5, he immediately criticized Williamson saying that no one should read much about the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency, which is the first to authorize the vaccine. Other countries were also working around the clock and he hoped that some of them would give their approval long before a needle had been stuck in any Briton’s arm.
JVT, as it is known, gave similarly measured answers to other questions. The vaccine was our tie in the 70th minute – he can’t resist a soccer or training analogy. No, it had not been fully tested in pregnant women, people over the age of 50 were prioritized because they accounted for 99% of all coronavirus deaths, the AstraZeneca results looked promising as none of those who had received the vaccine had been hospitalized and the long term The long-term goal was to get as many people vaccinated as possible to ease pressure on the NHS and reduce infection rates.
And he was sure the MHRA was working as fast as possible to approve other vaccines, but that they were an independent body and couldn’t rush. All the facts that the ministers should have been telling but without the politics. Who knows? After all, experts might even find out after Brexit.
