Sir John Bell, a Canadian immunologist, is a familiar sight to locals along a stretch of Thames near his home in Wallingford, near Oxford, where he and his wife can often be seen rowing in a double cheekbone.
During the pandemic, Bell’s voice became known to millions of radio listeners. When news emerged that a viable Covid-19 vaccine was on the way after successful trials by Pfizer and BioNTech, Bell was asked on BBC Radio 4 if the world would return to normal. His answer was a resounding yes, yes, yes. His words not only lifted the spirits: they stirred the markets.
As a senior professor of medicine at Oxford University and an early member of the government’s vaccine working group who worked on Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine with AstraZeneca, the 69-year-old’s words had weight. Last December, he confidently predicted that Omicron “was not the same disease we had seen a year ago” and that Covid’s high mortality rates in the UK were “now history”.
Speaking to the Observer at a restaurant on Oxford’s main street over a cup of tea, Bell is still optimistic. “Vaccines have had a very powerful and long-lasting effect on death – most people who have had the vaccine are completely safe,” he said. “The people who are dying now, since last July, are
CV
69 years
Married family with three children.
Education Attended Ridley College in St Catharines, Ontario; studied medicine at the University of Alberta, graduating in 1975; Rhodes Scholar in Medicine at Oxford University; postgraduate studies at London and Stanford University.
Last holiday “I can’t remember for so long. I’m leaving for Canada this summer. “
The best advice given to him: “If you believe in something, never give up.”
Biggest mistake in your career You are trying to help modernize Oxford University by sitting on its board.
Words he overdoes with “Great.”
How he relaxes Rowing or going down the Thames, swimming in the university pool, hiking and cycling.
unvaccinated. This is tragic, “he added, while acknowledging that frail older people and the immunocompromised are also at greater risk.
For this reason, he says, it would be wise to give more booster injections in the fall to people over 65 and those with poor immune systems, while healthy younger people, children and teenagers don’t really need them – unless appeared heavier Covid option appears.
“Two things can happen: one is that the vaccines do last a year or 18 months against death, or we get a variant that is much more pathogenic, in which case we need another [vaccine]He says he sees a “very high” chance that if a new version comes along, it will be relatively light as Omicron, while the chances of a more deadly version are “very low, but nothing.”
The main challenge now is to devise an injection to stop the transmission of the virus, but Bell is optimistic about second-generation Covid vaccines, which are expected to be on the market within a year or two. He and other scientists hope nasal spray can stop transmission, while vaccines that use T cells to kill infected cells may offer longer-lasting immunity than current injections and may also be better at fighting with viral mutations.
Although vaccines are abundant worldwide, they remain very unevenly distributed and many people in poorer countries have not yet received a single dose. Bell is proud of the Oxford / AstraZeneca strike, which sold nearly 3 billion doses in 180 countries and at non-profit prices by the end of last year. However, despite being declared a “vaccine for the world”, it was at the center of a political controversy a year ago with allegations of efficacy, supply and side effects.
Bell says “uninformed” comments made by politicians such as French President Emmanuel Macron cost many lives at the time because people were worried about the safety of the sting, especially in Africa. Macron’s comments were inflated by social media, a campaign “provoked by third parties” designed to cause disruption, he said. “Imagine if you live in [former] French West Africa and the President of France say, “Don’t use this vaccine.” Imagine what you think if you are the person on the street. Vaccination hesitation in Africa is caused by uninformed bad press and the problem is that no one is responsible for it. “
Although the AstraZeneca vaccine is not approved in the United States, Bell believes it will continue to be used worldwide as a booster, and studies show that it is particularly good for boosting Covid vaccines made in China, Africa, South America and South America. some Asian countries.
Bell, who has dual citizenship, retained his Canadian accent. He drives a Tesla, but his colleagues consider him quite down to earth. His former head teacher at Ridley College described him as very modest for a man who had served several prime ministers as one of the best epidemiologists in the UK.
He was born into a family of scientists – his mother teaches pharmacy at the university, while his father is a professor of hematology and his grandfather – a professor of anesthesia. Bell studied medicine in Canada and Oxford before eventually becoming chief professor of the subject (a department originally sponsored by King Henry VIII), setting up three biotech companies and advising the UK government on its life science strategy. He says he lacks lab tests, but “you can’t do everything.”
Named the UK’s champion in the life sciences in 2011, Bell advised the government on how to charge the turbocharger industry, which is second only to the US in size. According to the Bioindustry Association (BIA), £ 4.5 billion was invested in biotechnology in the UK last year, a 16-fold increase over 2012. ‘Now that we’ve done Brexit, for better or worse, it’s is the only thing we need to do: succeed in growing new, exciting companies with exciting science-based discoveries that we then go and sell to the world. ”
The City of London with its great financial institutions, pension funds and insurers – they do not invest in private companies, Sir John Bell
Bell Immunocore chairs, whose treatments use the body’s immune system to kill cancer. His drugs were developed in Oxford, but he is listed on the US Nasdaq, where ratings are higher. “We have a lot of start-up capital, but we don’t have growth capital,” Bell said. “The City of London with its great financial institutions, pension funds and insurance companies – they do not invest in private companies.”
There is hope: the government wants to make it easier for pension schemes to invest in illiquid assets to improve the return of savers, and is holding consultations. If the rules change, he says, “I will be the first person to dance in the street.”
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