Register here for this Adam Smith Institute webinar
Over the last few weeks, the prospect of viable, widely available vaccines has moved from tentative to the cusp of certainty. Doom-loop conversations about lockdowns might soon come to an end, but we are now faced with a raft of medical, logistical, practical and ethical challenges in rolling out an effective immunisation strategy.
Achieving herd immunity will require a vaccination strategy of a scale and scope far beyond anything attempted before. It will certainly not be easy for the Government to deliver efficiently, given its struggles with testing and tracing.
There will also be hard prioritisations to make. Younger, socially active people are more likely to spread the virus, but older, more vulnerable citizens face a greater threat to their health. Who should be first in line?
Regardless of the Government’s vaccination strategy, it will be delivered in a context of hesitation and apprehension. We have all been asked to minimise our exposure to risk by minimising social contact, but taking the shot will require us to accept the risk of a vaccine developed far faster than any other. With antivaxxers and associated disinformation, is there temptation to increase uptake by fiat over building trust?
We are joined by:
John Macdonald (host), Head of Government Affairs at the Adam Smith Institute
Francois Balloux, Director of the UCL Genetics Institute, and a Professor of Computational Biology at University College London. His recent focus has been on human and wildlife pathogens, and reconstructing disease outbreaks and epidemics.
Charles Weijer, bioethicist and professor of medicine and philosophy at Western University in London, Canada. He is a leading expert on the ethics of randomised controlled trials. Earlier this year he was a member of the World Health Organization’s Working Group for Guidance on Human Challenge Studies in Covid-19.
Jonathon Kitson, independent researcher and forecaster.
Details:
Date: Tuesday, 1st December 2020
Time: 6.00pm - 7.00pm (UK time)
The webinar will begin at 6.00pm, with an audience Q&A session taking place at approximately 6.45pm. The webinar will conclude at 7.00pm.