VACCINES ARE ABOUT SAVING LIVES, NOT BOOSTING EGOS

JALL the point- scoring and niggling about the Covid vaccines is incredibly annoying. Just as we face a new dawn for humanity, just as we watch the first elderly men and women stoically getting their jabs with smiles and gratitude, just as we should be celebrating a truly magnificent scientific achievement, every news bulletin features a plethora of experts arguing with each other about the pitfalls of each vaccine.

There’s a nasty competitive macho spirit in the culture that is now the norm in claims about this pandemic. Boris’s world- beating this and that, Matt Hancock’s grandiose claims for his test and trace system.

This is a global crisis. It’s not a matter of national pride. We need co- operation, not competition. It’s not a race between nations and drug companies. It’s a race to save humanity from a plague.