Covid Vaccine Turns Into a Shot at Redemption for Britain
Finding the Holy Grail in the pandemic has taken on greater significance after a torrid few months.
Boris Johnson claps while standing outside 10 Downing Street during a national round of applause to show appreciation for health workers in London on June 28.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergAt the Global Vaccine Summit he hosted in June, Boris Johnson was keen to remind the audience that it was a British doctor, Edward Jenner, who pioneered vaccinations. Now it’s the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford that’s leading the drive for an inoculation against coronavirus.
The pandemic has blown every leader off course, but the U.K. prime minister has been among the hardest hit. His country recorded the worst death toll in Europe and the biggest economic meltdown mere months after leaving the European Union. Johnson concedes there will have to be an inquiry into his handling of the whole thing.