Track and trace plan ‘a failure’
A VOW to put Brits first if we win the race to find a vaccine for the coronavirus could end up leaving us out in the cold if another country beats us to it, campaigners warn. to attach conditions to vaccine development funds given to pharma firms, to prevent them from profiteering on any drugs they develop.
Ms Scource said: “The public is paying twice for this system – once for funding research and development, again when pharma companies are getting the patent. Unless you’re attaching conditions, this is what’s going to happen. High prices could cripple health budgets.”
These fears were echoed by Diarmuid Mcdonald of campaign group Just Treatment, which last year helped force a pharma firm to drop the price of cystic fibrosis drugs the NHS had said it could not afford.
BORIS Johnson’s virus testing plan is inadequate and will cost lives, experts have warned.
Doubts over the effectiveness of the PM’S promise of a world-beating test, track and tracing shield are mounting.
Critics say it is unlikely to be ready in time to justify the reopening of schools in
eight days. And health chiefs at the NHS Confederation warn any further easing of the lockdown before an effective system is in place would risk a second and potentially deadlier wave of the virus.
It has emerged that a smartphone tracing app will not be ready for the deadline and a “game-changer” on-the-spot test will not be out of its trial stage for six