the money was there to spend on vaccines according to the finANcial times the uk has spent NEARLY 12 billion on vaccines, if they had spent 8 billion on vaccines they could have spent NEARLY 4 billion on hospital building .bonzo from the FT
UK spending on Covid vaccines hits nearly £12bn, watchdog says
Cost does not cover future multiyear programmes for jabs, National Audit Office says.
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        https://www.ft.com/content/58b11945-71b1-4f96-b389-695e162642fb

        

The UK’s push to secure and administer hundreds of millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines is estimated to have cost up to £11.7bn so far, according to the public spending watchdog.

The government has signed deals for five vaccines providing up to 267m doses at an expected cost of £2.9bn, with non-binding agreements with two other companies set to bring total provision to 357m doses, the National Audit Office said in a report published on Wednesday.

Additional costs including those associated with sponsoring trials, distributing and administering the vaccines lifted the total spend to £11.7bn.

The total cost was “likely to change” as officials obtained a clearer understanding of the deployment and quality of the vaccines, the report noted.

Crucially, the figure “does not cover the costs of any future potential multiyear vaccination programmes”. It is still unclear for how long the jabs protect against Covid-19, but experts have said vaccination campaigns will have to be repeated.

The report also said that many drugmakers had requested immunity in the event of legal action, meaning taxpayers may have to pay the costs of claims against them. In four out of five contracts, no cap has been applied to the amount that the government could pay in the event of a successful claim against the pharmaceutical companies in certain, unspecified circumstances.

In negotiating with the EU, drugmakers pursued a similar approach. Both the UK and the EU rejected requests for complete immunity.

Of the £11.7bn, £6.2bn is expected to support the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s procurement and manufacturing activities, and £4.9bn to support administration of the vaccines through the Department of Health and Social Care. Additionally, up to £619m will fund global vaccine research efforts, £548m of which has been earmarked to enable low and middle-income countries to access vaccines through the development aid budget.
bonzo, do you know better than the financial times, you are an uninformed driveller