The threat of a future pandemic is as “serious as defence threats”, the former head of the vaccine taskforce has said.
Dame Kate Bingham told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We do invest in our defence forces, we do recognise it’s important to look around the world and develop intelligence to plan for all sorts of different scenarios when it comes to our national defence.”
She added: “This pandemic, devastating how it was, could have been a lot worse.
“It could have been more lethal – it could have been a virus that mutates much more rapidly, which means you can’t develop vaccines.
“So this is not the time to sit back on our laurels.
“This is the time to recognise that pandemic threats are as serious as defence threats and should be invested and supported in the same way.”
