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Almost a year living with COVID, finally on Wednesday there was a really brilliant breakthrough: the UK regulator became the first in the world to approve the Pzifer-BioNTech vaccine, launching jabs at the most vulnerable in our society starting next week. .
The prime minister, in characteristically extravagant language, used a Press conference to praise the scientists for performing “a kind of biological jujutsu” on the virus.
“All along we have been waiting and looking forward to the day when the searchlights of science detect our invisible enemy and give us the power to prevent the enemy from getting sick, and now scientists have done it,” he said.
And now, in the weeks and months to come, the NHS will embark on the largest mass vaccination program in UK history.
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Prime Minister clashes with Van-Tam over post-pandemic future
The vaccine development and approval process – typically a decade in the making – over 10 months is a great achievement.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer, said he was thrilled to learn of the development and approval of the vaccine, which he described as a “momentous journey.”
But hope was also tempered by a heavy dose of realism.
The vaccine will take months to implement. Scientists don’t know if it stops transmission and we’ll probably have to live with COVID-19 forever, though more like we would with a seasonal virus like the flu, rather than the death restrictions brought on by this pandemic.
And in the meantime, the tiered system so hated by Tory MPs looks set to stay.
When I asked the prime minister if he would renew the system on February 3, when the current restrictions legally expire, he said this: “We will judge the situation on the basis of the data, but I think for the moment you have to assume that the classification will be a very important part of our campaign against coronavirus and it is absolutely vital that people stick to the guide and follow the rules. “
News of the vaccine turned the page on the conservative rebellion over politics Tuesday night, when 55 Conservative MPs voted against the government and another 16 abstained.
A year ago, Boris Johnson was elected with a majority of 80 seats and on the eve of that electoral victory he lost that majority, a severe blow to his authority.
And that authority could quickly be challenged again in the days and weeks to come.
Dominic Cummings’ departure gives prime minister a chance to fix relationship with MPs
On Brexit, MPs are watching whether Dominic Cummings’ departure means a compromise is about to be implemented, which could prove very problematic with their MPs.
And COVID?
MPs were not convinced by the prime minister’s suggestions that their areas could move down the tiered system. Or that the country could be at a different time in February, when just a few days earlier the prime minister had argued in his winter plan that “January Y February [my italics] these are traditionally the hardest months for the NHS, the depths of winter, when our hospital wards are under the most pressure. “
Everything indicates that the level system is overturning, even in the PM it does not mean it.
The prime minister obviously promised a suspension clause from the current round of restrictions to placate his party. But you can’t promise that there won’t be a transfer because you can’t predict how COVID, or all of us, will behave during December and January.
What degree of long-term difficulty are you in?
There is a party management problem caused by the disdain that Dominic Cummings-led Number 10 showed towards the parliamentary party. His dismissal last month is a start in repairing relations with deputies.
But there is also a deeper mistrust around this prime minister.
Johnson is undoubtedly a charismatic activist and vote winner, but when it comes to governing, many of his MPs believe the administration has lacked competence.
These misgivings are more ingrained than staff character clashes because they speak to the essence of the leader himself.
In good times, these shortcomings can be overlooked, but in crises they are amplified into the kinds of mistakes that have defined much of the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Of course, as the vaccine is launched, optimism returns and the economy begins to recover, the prime minister could well have a big rebound in the country and within his party, and this rebellion could be a distant memory.
But this week he put a marker, and as this crisis moves from a public health crisis to an economic one, there will be many more difficult and divisive decisions for the prime minister to make around fiscal and spending policies and where to distribute wealth. and investment. while juggling the competitive demands of its new Blue Wall seats and traditional conservative counties.
The prime minister may have a large majority, but this week he showed that this will not be an easy term.
