Doubts over Covid jab rollout ‘killed thousands of people’

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Sir John Bell, regius professor at Oxford University who worked on the jab, hit out at EU decision makers who criticised the vaccine.

He said: “They have damaged the reputation of the vaccine in a way that echoes around the world.

“I think bad behaviour from scientists and politicians has probably killed hundreds of thousands of people.”

A BBC documentary tonight explores whether nationalism hindered the rollout of the vaccine, hailed as the UK’s “gift to the world”.

While Britain’s rollout was speeding ahead in early 2021 with both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines, the EU’s programme was lagging behind.

Germany then ruled the AstraZeneca vaccine should not be given to over-65s, citing a lack of data in older age groups, and France’s President Macron called the vaccine “quasi-ineffective” in the elderly.

Both countries later reversed their decisions.

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The programme also explores tension between rich countries rolling out boosters and those calling for vulnerable people in developing countries to be jabbed first.

Vaccines have slashed the number of people being admitted to hospital during the Omicron wave.

A report from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre showed just 19 admissions to intensive care for Covid patients on January 23 – compared to about 400 being admitted daily at the peak of the second wave in January 2021.

• AstraZeneca: A Vaccine For The World?, BBC Two, 9pm, or later on iPlayer.

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