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

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We were relying on the likes of a bomb disposal experts, an Indian rowing star, an Italian consultant, a submarine delivery agent, a former ambassador, a football pundit and a venture capitalist to get the UK out of the pandemic,” Bingham jokes. Of course, many had other skills – the football pundit, for instance, happened to be Jonathan Van Tam.

She was leading a team of experts who would find Covid vaccines that worked, ensure they could be manufactured at scale and then delivered into people’s arms by the end of the year. their intelligence – this makes a huge difference for a speaker. In the Oxford audience I encountered many experts in the field my book covered and even one of the ambassadors I’d quoted I loved the whole atmosphere of the Oxford Literary Festival. From breakfast, alongside some of the attendees, who were talking books with each other a mile a minute, to the public event at The Sheldonian where everyone was lively and engaged – I felt I had arrived in a kind of literary heaven.For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. None of it was inevitable… the biggest risk was whether or not it was even doable [to develop Covid vaccines],” she says. “But within Government, it also felt like we were just pushing water uphill the whole time.” Points of pride Ah ha! That was fun,” she says, a glint in her piercing blue eyes. “We signed the world’s first contract with Pfizer-BioNTech… and it showed Whitehall could work at speed.” Abandoning the Vaccine Registry, where more than 500,000 people signed up to take part in clinical trials, was short sighted – Bingham wanted this resource to continue post-Covid.

Every literary festival stays in an author’s mind for slightly individual reasons. I shall remember the Oxford festival for: You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side.

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph ahead of the book’s launch on Thursday October 20, Bingham – who emerged from the pandemic with a Damehood after leading the UK’s drive to buy a broad portfolio of effective Covid jabs – laughs at the memory. Often as an author, I only occasionally get to meet the public who buy and read my books. The Oxford Literary Festival was a special opportunity for me and certainly one of the highlights of my career – it was an honour I will never forget.