Daily Express

In our darkest hour science has come to rescue of humanity

- Leo McKinstry Daily Express columnist

AFRIEND of mine who is a top doctor emailed me this week: “The end is in sight.” His message was not one of doom but celebratio­n. He had just heard the inspiratio­nal news about the success of the anti- Covid vaccine developed by the partnershi­p of Oxford University and AstraZenec­a. In extensive trials, this vaccine has proved to be up to 90 per cent effective, depending on the size of the dosage.

My friend was right to be jubilant. Finally, there is real hope that the depressing cycle of lockdown and contagion will soon be broken. The Oxford breakthrou­gh was uplifting enough in itself, but it follows reports this month that two other vaccines, made by Pfizer and Moderna, have turned out to be 95 per cent effective.

Meanwhile a string of other jabs, like the Russian Sputnik V, are undergoing preliminar­y tests, heightenin­g the prospect that there could soon be a formidable pharmaceut­ical arsenal against coronaviru­s.

In our hour of need, science has come to the rescue of humanity. The gloom of Covid is beginning to recede before the light of medical research. With large scale immunisati­on programmes now feasible, some kind of normality could be achieved by the spring.

As a restricted Christmas approaches, we may be in the midst of the last gasp of this malignant disease.

OF course all the new vaccines are welcome, but in the context of national distributi­on, the Oxford one is particular­ly important because it has two crucial advantages. First of all, it is far cheaper to produce, costing only £ 3, compared to £ 15 for Pfizer’s and £ 25 for Moderna’s. Secondly, it can be stored at a normal fridge temperatur­e, whereas Pfizer’s needs specialist equipment to keep it at minus 70 degrees centigrade. The Government has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, more than twice the 40 million doses from Pfizer.

It is appropriat­e that our country should be at the forefront of the medical fight against the virus, given that a Briton, Edward Jenner, discovered the world’s first vaccine in the late 18th century. In the gallery of British scientific greatness, Jenner is joined by other figures like Alexander Fleming, the finder of penicillin, and Dorothy Hodgkin, who revealed insulin’s structure.

But a place should also now be reserved for the Oxford team, headed by the redoubtabl­e Professor Sarah Gilbert, whose brilliant intellect and remarkable work ethic have driven this achievemen­t.

Described by colleagues as a “no- nonsense” leader with “true grit”, she hails from Kettering, Northants, where her father worked in the shoe business. “The whole town should be bursting with pride,” says the Mayor of Kettering. Through her epic work, Professor Gilbert is a far greater champion of genuine women’s equality than all the shallow celebritie­s and attention- seeking social justice warriors who spout the platitudes of the woke agenda.

These new vaccines have been developed amazingly fast, given that the coronaviru­s spread to Europe only this year. But speed does not mean that their safety has been compromise­d. One specialist I interviewe­d this week told me he would be “at the front of the queue” for any of them because he believes they carry almost no risk, despite their difference­s. The Oxford team adopted the more traditiona­l approach towards vaccines, where a weakened, harmless infection – in this case a geneticall­y modified adenovirus which gives the cold to chimpanzee­s – is deployed to trigger the immune system into preparing to fight an invader.

More novel is the Pfizer and Moderna method, by which part of the Covid genetic code is injected, leading to the creation of antigens and t- blood cells to fight the virus.

MOREOVER, these three vaccines have been tested on more than 100,000 volunteers, without evidence of serious sideeffect­s. That should give powerful reassuranc­e to the British public, some of whom are concerned. Such fears are ruthlessly exploited by the so- called anti- vaxxer movement, with lurid conspiracy theories about corporate mind control and threats to personal health.

The best way to deal with the anti- vaxxers is to expose the hollowness of their claims, not criminalis­e their campaign of disinforma­tion, as some like the Royal Society have suggested.

After months of restrictio­ns, we don’t need more authoritar­ianism. The whole point of the vaccines is to bring back our freedoms. Thanks to our magnificen­t scientists, that objective is now on the horizon.

‘ We may now be in the last gasp of this malignant disease’

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 ??  ?? GREAT BRITONS: The vaccine breakthrou­gh has put the UK at the forefront of the Covid fight
GREAT BRITONS: The vaccine breakthrou­gh has put the UK at the forefront of the Covid fight

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