Former vaccine tsar slams lack of science skills in UK government

Science-related competencies should be essential requirements for civil service officials, says Kate Bingham

The government was “woefully unprepared” for the Covid-19 pandemic due to its “devastating lack of skills and experience in science”, according to the former chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce.

Kate Bingham, who oversaw widely praised and successful efforts to find and manufacture Covid-19 vaccines in the UK on behalf of the UK government between May and December 2020, is expected to make the comments in a lecture at the University of Oxford on the evening of 23 November.