HMS Vanity Project and the Covid Vaccine

 

This morning as I turned on the 7am news bulletin two stories caught my attention. Not the twice divorced prime minister getting married at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral. But said Prime Minister’s intention to build a “ship” (no longer a Royal Yacht) costing £200 million and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s call to G7 group of wealthiest nations to ensure access to Covid vaccines for all people in the world.

According to the BBC News website the newly married Prime Minister Boris Johnson said

‘The flagship would be "the first vessel of its kind in the world" and would reflect "the UK's burgeoning status as a great, independent maritime trading nation".

"Every aspect of the ship, from its build to the businesses it showcases on board, will represent and promote the best of British - a clear and powerful symbol of our commitment to be an active player on the world stage,"’

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57293882

 

As for the former Prime Minister. He, along with former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Dali Lama and 175 others, have signed a letter to the G7 leaders asking the wealthiest countries to consider Covid-19 vaccines a "global common good".

 

Mr Brown was later interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme.

Unsurprisingly as a former Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr, Brown rattled off many statistics to support his viewpoint. Too many to grasp whilst I was in the shower! However, billions of dollars will be needed to enable a vaccine roll out on a global scale.

 

In the interview Mr. Brown said that it is fruitless to vaccinate everyone in this country only to allow Covid to go undealt with elsewhere in the world perhaps mutating in to variants that the current vaccine won’t cope with. Just like with smallpox, all people need to be vaccinated.

 

If the money for HMS Vanity Project (and let’s face it, it will be more than £200 million) were used instead as part of Britain’s contribution to eradicating Covid, wouldn’t that be more representative of “the best of British”?