Blair says collaboration on Covid could have cut three months off crisis
February 26, 2021, 12:25 pm

Blair says collaboration on Covid could have cut three months off crisis

Tony Blair receiving the Covid-19 vaccine at Lord’s cricket ground. His institute has launched a report outlining lessons to be learned from the pandemic.

Former prime minister tells the Guardian the world must be better prepared for the next pandemic

World leaders could have cut the length of the Covid outbreak by three months if they had collaborated on vaccines, testing and drugs, Tony Blair has claimed as he launched a report on preparing for the next deadly pandemic.

The former Labour prime minister urged the UK to take the lead in developing a new “health security infrastructure” that would ensure countries coordinate better in identifying emerging new threats as well as developing, testing and manufacturing vaccines and treatments.

“Had there been global coordination a year ago, I think we could have shaved at least three months off this virus,” Blair told the Guardian in an interview.

The report, The New Necessary, published by his Institute for Global Change, argues that in future, with the right international coordination and investment, the creation of a new vaccine could be achieved in as little as 100 days.

“The time that it’s taken for us to identify the virus, to develop a vaccine and to get it into production and distribution has been roughly, 15 months. And the result of that has been that the world has suffered a huge, catastrophic economic event as well as a health event,” he said.

“The obvious lesson to draw for the future is, number one, you have to prepare for the potential of this happening again, or with different variants of this particular virus. And number two, you cannot afford to take this long to get on top of it.”

With Boris Johnson chairing the G7, Blair called on the UK to spearhead the creation of a more responsive system for tracking diseases and collaborating on tackling them.

The report calls on the government to treat preparing for the next pandemic as “akin to a military operation”, tracking the emergence of new diseases using state-of-the-art surveillance and having “surge capacity” ready to produce vaccines and drugs.

It calls for pandemics to be dealt with as potential security threats – like climate change or cyber-attacks, Blair says – to ensure the issue gets the government time and attention it requires.

Johnson was criticised for skipping several Cobra meetings in the early days of the pandemic, leaving them to be chaired by the health secretary, Matt Hancock.

Perhaps ironically, for someone regarded by his critics as an arch free marketeer, Blair argues that in tackling the virus over the past year, “there was a whole series of things left to the market which it was never sensible to leave to the market”.

As an example, he points the bioreactors needed to produce vaccines. “A lot of the companies that were developing the vaccines didn’t have large bioreactor capacity, whereas a lot of the bioreactor capacity was in other large pharmaceutical companies who weren’t doing the vaccines. Now, in a rational world you would have been repurposing some of that bioreactor capacity to accelerate the production of vaccine. I don’t think that was even the discussion that took place at an international level.”

Blair’s institute is part thinktank, part consultancy, advising global leaders on how to make use of emerging technologies.

He has made a series of high-profile interventions during the crisis, advocating some measures that have subsequently been adopted by the UK government, including mass testing and more recently vaccine passports.

Having previously denied it was considering the idea, the government this week announced a review of the idea of “Covid status certificates” that would allow people to demonstrate they have been vaccinated or had a recent negative test result.

Blair, who faced a political revolt when he tried to introduce a nationwide system of ID cards as prime minister, argues that some kind of certification system is inevitable, so the government should take control of it rather than allow it to develop ad hoc.

“What is obvious is that if people are going to be in close proximity with others, they’ll probably prefer to know their Covid status – either test or vaccine,” he said. “Then the only question is, do you just let the system grow up topsy-turvy, with people doing their own thing, and making their own rules and regulations around it, or to try and systematise it. And I just think it’s inevitable that you will move to the second,” he said.

He brushed off claims that some groups – those without access to technology, for example – would be disadvantaged. “There’s a big problem with the inequality between different people with digital connection, but you deal with that by dealing with the problem.”

In response to the idea that such certificates – likely to be held on people’s mobile phones – would create privacy issues like those that helped to sink his ID cards plan, he said: “You know, my personal view is that this resistance was always exaggerated. It was loud, but not actually that broad. I used to say to people, you know, your average supermarket’s got more information on you than the government’s got.”

source: Heather Stewart

Levant

Shamima Begum loses fight to restore UK citizenship after supreme court ruling Alex Salmond to testify at Holyrood over claims of conspiracy against him

BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”

April 23, 2025

Blair says collaboration on Covid could have cut three months off crisis

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