Was Britain the first to approve the Covid vaccine because of Brexit?

Did Brexit give Britain a head-start over our erstwhile EU partners in approving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine? Yes, said ministers including Matt Hancock and Jacob Rees-Mogg yesterday. No, said June Raine, head of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the body that actually authorised the new drug. “Our progress has been totally dependent on the availability of data in our rolling review and the rigorous assessment and independent advice we have received,” Dr Raine said, implying that EU cooperation was still crucial. She insisted that, although the UK had issued emergency authorisation, all procedures under European law had been followed to the letter.

Jens Spahn, the German Health Minister, poured scorn on his British counterparts for boasting about being the first to approve and acquire a vaccine developed in his country. “The fact that this EU product is so good that Britain approved it so quickly shows that in this crisis European and international co-operation are best.” Spahn added that the EU had adopted a “common European approach” which meant that all 27 member states would get the vaccine simultaneously. The German Ambassador in London, Andreas Michaelis, reinforced his rebuke on Twitter: “I really don’t think this is a national story.”

At a Downing Street press conference, Boris Johnson tried to smooth over ruffled feathers on both sides: “These are global efforts, you’ve got scientists around the world coming together to make this possible. It’s a truly international thing and very, very moving to see.” Notice that the Prime Minister makes reference neither to Brexit nor to Europe: the watchword now is “global”.

So which side is right? The answer is: both. Dr Raine is undoubtedly correct that the MRHA followed EU rules, which apply until January 1. London has long been the home of European pharmaceutical regulation and much of the expertise in this field is British. Since 2016, her organisation has been at pains to preserve its prestige in Europe, not to mention the jobs that go with it. Hence it was unhelpful for British politicians to score points on such a sensitive issue and she had no qualms about siding with her EU colleagues.

Incidentally, the MHRA press conference on Wednesday was given by Dr Raine, flanked by Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed and Professor Wei Shen Lim — a vivid illustration of the magnet for scientific talent that “global Britain” could mean in practice, provided that international cooperation continues. Dr Raine herself is the woman on whom the country relies for assurance that the new vaccines are safe and that no corners are cut. Her ability to draw on the best brains in the world is vital to instill confidence and dispel the groundless fears propagated by anti-vaxxers online.

Nonetheless, the UK is ahead of the EU and US, perhaps by as much as a month, in launching its mass immunisation programme. This could mean that Britain emerges from the Covid crisis slightly faster, though hitherto the forecasts have predicted that the UK economy will be among the hardest hit. Will Brexit give us independence, allow us flexibility and free us from red tape? If not, then what was the point of all that pain?

There are signs that the extraordinary energies unleashed by this pandemic are bearing fruit. Friendly competition between nations has been a spur to improvisation and innovation. Patriotic pride in the achievements of our doctors, nurses and scientists has helped to sustain their efforts to overcome the Covid crisis. The same is true elsewhere. Yet it is patently obvious that humanity has benefited from global collaboration. To this extent, nationalism and internationalism are both playing their part in a complex dialectic. The synthesis that has emerged includes the new vaccines, which will continue to be monitored and compared as they are rolled out. Britain is likely to be a guinea pig in this respect, closely watched by the world.

The death of Giscard d’Estaing at 94 from complications arising from Covid is a reminder that no individual and no nation is spared from a coronavirus that kills indiscriminately. Yet it is surely not accidental that grave crises generate great breakthroughs — such as last month’s Oxford vaccine and this week’s announcement that British computer scientists at DeepMind have cracked the code that determines the structures of proteins. The scientific equivalent of FOMO — fear of missing out — may be behind the spurt in post-Brexit achievement in this country. Or we may simply be living through a global golden age, not unlike the “republic of letters” that made possible the scientific revolution of the 17th century. Either way, we the public can only look on in awe as the boundaries of fundamental knowledge and life-saving technologies are extended before our eyes. In the end, progress is not usually about politics, but the work of a few remarkable people. Apart from enabling nation to speak unto nation, the politicians should get out of the way and leave our brilliant boffins to get on with it.

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