Science, politics and the race for vaccines: Lessons from COVID-19
This event will uncover how complex public health problems, like procuring vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, are made and how politics, science and public trust intertwine to shape these decisions.
How were life-saving COVID-19 vaccines procured at unprecedented speed, and what can this tell us about the relationship between science, politics, and public trust in a crisis?
Drawing on 114 interviews with senior policymakers, scientists, ministers, and industry leaders, this talk, which forms part of Stuart Carroll's PhD, takes audiences behind the scenes of one of the most consequential public health decisions in modern history. It explores how governments navigated risk, uncertainty, and competing pressures while making decisions that would affect millions of lives.
Moving beyond simple narratives of “following the science,” the talk reveals the complex interplay between politics, power, policy, and procurement that shaped the UK's vaccine response. It examines why the UK Vaccines Taskforce succeeded, what lessons have already been forgotten, and whether the country is genuinely prepared for the next pandemic.
Combining unique research insights with practical policy recommendations, this timely seminar offers a perspective on leadership, resilience, innovation, and the future of pandemic preparedness in an increasingly uncertain world.
Speaker
Dr Stuart Carroll
Stuart Carroll is a senior health economist and epidemiologist with over 22 years of experience, specialising in infectious diseases and vaccines, market access, health technology appraisal, public health, and public affairs and government policy. He recently worked for Moderna as Director of Market Access and Policy Affairs, Moderna UK and Ireland for four years where he also helped negotiate the UK Government's Strategic Partnership for pandemic preparedness. He previously worked for Her Majesty’s Government as a Senior Expert Policy and Strategy Adviser for the Prime Minister’s UK Vaccines Taskforce and the Antiviral and Therapeutics Taskforce where he was responsible for coordinating policy, deployment and implementation imperatives as well as providing expert advice to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and leading on the Northern Ireland Protocol and assisting with drafting the Windsor Framework. Stuart also specialises in health policy and market access matters relating to rare diseases, neurology and mental health, and has published over 180 peer review academic and scientific papers.
Previously, Stuart has worked in consultancy, acted as a Health Policy Adviser to the Conservative Party and undertaken multiple industry roles including as Head of Market Access and Public Affairs for Sanofi Pasteur UK and Ireland and previously Head of Market Access for Biogen and Head of Health Economics and Epidemiology for Sanofi Pasteur MSD. He has also served as a full voting member of the New Drugs Committee to the Scottish Medicines Consortium and a member of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Appeals Panel. He is a Fellow of The Royal Society for Public Health and Royal Society of Arts, a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange and the Office of Health Economics. Stuart has previously acted as visiting lecturer to Imperial Business School. He is currently the Co-Chair of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Vaccines Group and in 2019 General Election acted as the former Prime Minister, Theresa May’s Chief of Staff.
Stuart holds a BA (Hons) in Politics in Economics (1st Class) from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, an MSc in Health Economics (Distinction) from the University of York, and an MBA (Distinction) from Imperial Business School. He is currently completing a PhD in public health and public policy at the University of Nottingham under the supervision of Professor Sir Jonathan Van Tam. Stuart also served as an elected councillor where he represented Boyn Hill in the Royal Borough of Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead between 2015-2023 and also served as the Deputy Chair of Cabinet, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Health, Mental Health and Children’s Services and the Chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Board. He has extensive experience across public and government affairs including communications strategy.
Event notices
- Please note that you can join this event in person or you can join the session remotely
- Please note that this session will not be recorded
Admission
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