Covid-19: Hancock defends outgoing vaccine head over PR bill

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has defended the outgoing vaccine chief amid reports she spent £670,000 on public relations advisers.

The Sunday Times said Vaccine Taskforce chair Kate Bingham used eight consultants to oversee media strategy.

Mr Hancock said this had been signed off by business department officials and thanked Ms Bingham for her service.

The government says she was always due to leave her government role in December.

Speaking on LBC Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the bill for consultants "can't be justified".

But asked if he was comfortable with the cost, Mr Hancock replied "of course".

Speaking to BBC's Today programme he said "frankly what matters is the substance of what the Vaccine Taskforce has done".

He said the work of Ms Bingham and the Vaccine Taskforce meant the UK was "one of the best placed countries around the world for access to vaccines".

"The Vaccines Taskforce has procured, for the whole of the UK, 340 million doses of six different leading vaccines, including spotting this one - the Pfizer one - which has become the front runner alongside the AstraZeneca one.

"I would go out of my way to thank Kate Bingham for the services she has given this country," he added.

On Monday, early results from the world's first effective coronavirus vaccine showed it could prevent more than 90% of people from getting Covid.

The developers - Pfizer and BioNTech - described it as a "great day for science and humanity".

Ms Bingham was appointed chair of the UK's Vaccine Taskforce in May.

The government said she would co-ordinate work to "rapidly develop vaccines, and ensure that as and when a viable one becomes available, it can be produced in mass quantities and safely administered to the public - both in the UK and around the world".

On taking the role Ms Bingham temporarily stood back from her full time role as a managing partner at SV Health Investors - a life sciences venture capital firm.