Coronavirus: China Supplied Inferior Vaccines to UK
The UK government’s new testing chief has
admitted that none of the 3.5 million antibody tests ordered from China
are fit for widespread use.
Professor John Newton, who was
appointed by health secretary Matt Hancock to oversee testing,
reportedly said the tests were only able to identify immunity in people
who had been severely sick with coronavirus.
The tests did not pass the evaluation stage, and he was quoted by The Times as saying they were “not good enough to be worth rolling out in very large scale”.
Prof Newton, director of public health improvement for Public Health England
(PHE) said three “mega labs” for testing NHS staff was his top priority
and did not expect university and commercial labs to be able to help.
“There’s a big, big ask at the moment
which is quite specific [on testing NHS staff]. So a lot of these
companies who are offering their capacity may not be directly related to
that ask and therefore they might not be as helpful at the moment.”
Mr Hancock has also acknowledged that early analysis of the tests showed “some of them have not performed well”.
He added, speaking on Thursday, that:
“We’re hopeful that they [the tests] will improve and that the later
tests that we’ve got our hands on will be able to be reliable enough for
people to use them with confidence.”
Last month, a PHE director told ministers the 15-minute home test kits would be available “within days” once they have been cleared – but doubt was cast over the accuracy of the tests just days after.
But eight days after Professor Sharon
Peacock said the tests would “absolutely” become available, Downing
Street was unable to give any timetable for the introduction of the
tests.
A spokesperson for Boris Johnson
also warned that the use of unreliable tests could have “significant
adverse consequences” if people were given false confidence in their own
immunity.
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A spokesperson for Boris Johnson also warned that the use of unreliable tests could have “significant
adverse consequences” if people were given false confidence in their own
immunity.
Antibody
testing, which Boris Johnson called a “gamechanger”, is regarded as
crucial to eventually lifting the lockdown measures in place across the
country.
Prof Newton has poured cold water on
the idea the government may be able to make millions of home test kits
in days, and said the idea was “based on the fact that we might just buy
the existing test, and at the moment the judgement is that that
wouldn’t be the best thing to do”.
He added he was “optimistic” that
commercial partners wiling to work with scientists who had been
evaluating the tests would be able to improve them.
Meanwhile, the president of the
Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) raised concerns that labs around
the country lack the vital materials needed to meet the government’s
promise to test 100,000 people for coronavirus a day by the end of
April.
Allan Wilson said during an interview with Sky News:
“My main concern is that we do not have the capacity to meet the
targets set by Mr Hancock. We’re still struggling to meet that target.
We have staff around the country, biomedical scientists and equipment
ready and staff trained to carry out the testing, but we are really
struggling to get the consumables, the chemicals and testing kits we
need to carry out these tests.”
In a statement, IBMS said there were “huge issues” regarding the reliability of the millions of antibody tests bought by the UK government.
“At least one in 10 people who test positive on the antibody test (and are therefore considered to have immunity) will be “false positives” and will not have immunity,” it said.
“Using the skilled workforce we have
at our disposal and doing the tests that we know work is currently the
best strategy. This will require the NHS to further expand its testing
approach to ensure the right tests are performed at the right time on
the right people to successfully tackle this worldwide pandemic,
supporting and protecting those at most risk from this virus.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said:
“Antibody tests offer the hope that people who think they have had the
disease will know they are immune and get back to life as normal. We are
currently working with several companies who are offering these tests
and are evaluating their effectiveness.“The Covid[-19] scientific advisory panel, led by Prof Sir John Bell, is currently undertaking a rapid evaluation process to establish their reliability. We will publish the results of this evaluation once it is completed.”
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