The UK must "prepare for the worst" this winter rather than relying on the development of a coronavirus vaccine, a senior scientist has warned. In 1964, Northern Irish physicist John Bell proved mathematically that certain quantum correlations, unlike all other correlations in the Universe, cannot … Review: The nature of purpose. I think the biggest single failure was not being on the front foot.”Virus pathogen may never be eliminated, says Professor Sir John Bell“The fact that we were asleep to the concept that we were going to have a pandemic, I think, shame on us,” he said.Sir John, knighted for his services to medicine in 2008, used polio as an example of how difficult it can be to completely suppress a disease.Enter your email to follow new comments on this article.“So this [Covid-19] is going to come and go, and we’re going to get winters where we get a lot of this virus back in action.”Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. Please continue to respect all commenters and create constructive debates.Sir John said: "This whole epidemic has relied too heavily on assumptions that have turned out not to be true.He also urged ministers not to rely on vaccines imported from the US because "you will not get it until a long way down the line".Prof Gilbert said the scientists were testing 4,000 people in Brazil and 2,000 in South Africa, both areas of high transmission compared to the UK where social distancing has reduced the infection rates.She also said a vaccine was likely to come "early next year", depending on the success of trials at Oxford University which have started testing on humans.Want to discuss real-world problems, be involved in the most engaging discussions and hear from the journalists? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.“It’s not always been clear at least to me and my colleagues as to who is in charge exactly and whose been making decisions,” he said.Sir Paul Nurse, also giving evidence at the session, said there had been a lack of leadership at the top of government throughout the pandemic.“My experience in talking to advisers and also politicians is that I’ve never found it too easy to find out who is responsible for the different parts of the strategy and for that matter the tactics that are being put in place. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment.Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? From 2006 to 2011, he was President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and since 2002 he has held the Regius Chair of Medicine at the University of … 'This whole epidemic has relied too heavily on assumptions that have turned out not to be true,' says Prof John Bell
Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. "So, my strong advice is be prepared for the worst. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. Sir John Bell, an immunologist and the Regius Chair of Medicine at the University of Oxford, said we'll probably know pretty soon whether Oxford's highly anticipated coronavirus vaccine works.. Bell told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday's edition of Meet the Press that researchers will likely "get a signal by June" about the vaccine's efficacy. LATEST FROM JOHN BELL. Start your Independent Premium subscription today.No hype, just the advice and analysis you needAre you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate?Sharing the full story, not just the headlines“So we’re going to have to have a continual cycle of vaccinations and then more disease, and more vaccinations and more disease.” Sir John told the Committee, chaired by former health secretary and Tory MP Jeremy Hunt.“Since the year 2000 we’ve had eight close calls of emerging infectious diseases, any one of which could have swept the globe as a pandemic.”Researchers at Oxford University also on Monday announced that a vaccine being developed in collaboration with AstraZeneca induces a strong immune response and appears to be safe.