Why won’t the UK vaccinate the whole population?

In Kate Bingham’s interview with the Financial Times, where she says that vaccinating the whole population is ‘not going to happen’ and would be ‘misguided’, she is deferring the holy grail of herd immunity for months beyond next spring, and saying we will be living with the virus for years. Because as chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, she is saying that only the old, vulnerable and those working in healthcare settings will be vaccinated.

In other words, the vaccine would be protection for those most likely to become acutely ill or whose services are most needed.

But all the evidence shows that young people are the principal spreaders of the virus, which would still be in the community. And we would still need to maintain social distancing, since we could never be confident that a vaccine would deliver total protection to the frail and elderly.

Obviously these decisions feel a bit premature, pending approval of a vaccine or vaccines, and until we understand what kind of protection it provides.