...but it is true. He's said it more than once.
How Matt Hancock's obsession with Matt Damon film drove UK's vaccine strategy | Vaccines and immunisation | The Guardian
As the UK endures another lockdown and watches the coronavirus death toll go past 100,000, one source of optimism has been the effectiveness of the national vaccine programme, the fastest such rollout in the world.
Now, as well as the effectiveness of the NHS and the work of former vaccine taskforce chief Kate Bingham, a surprising factor in that success has come to the fore: health secretary Matt Hancock’s obsession with a Matt Damon movie featuring a virus-ridden pig.
In the early days of the crisis, Sky News reported, the health secretary constantly reminded advisers of the example of Contagion, the 2011 Steven Soderbergh film which has been widely credited as a prescient examination of how a global pandemic might play out. In particular, Hancock wanted his team to heed the movie’s depiction of the complexities of an international race for limited vaccine supply – and make sure that Britain was out in front.
“He was constantly referring to the end of the film,” a former Department of Health and Social Care adviser told Sky. “He was always really aware from the very start, first that the vaccine was really important, second that when a vaccine was developed we would see an almighty global scramble for this thing.”
Hancock was particularly struck by a scene in which a lottery based on birthdates is used to ration supply – not as a policy prescription but as an indication of how precious the vaccine would be.
How Matt Hancock's obsession with Matt Damon film drove UK's vaccine strategy | Vaccines and immunisation | The Guardian
As the UK endures another lockdown and watches the coronavirus death toll go past 100,000, one source of optimism has been the effectiveness of the national vaccine programme, the fastest such rollout in the world.
Now, as well as the effectiveness of the NHS and the work of former vaccine taskforce chief Kate Bingham, a surprising factor in that success has come to the fore: health secretary Matt Hancock’s obsession with a Matt Damon movie featuring a virus-ridden pig.
In the early days of the crisis, Sky News reported, the health secretary constantly reminded advisers of the example of Contagion, the 2011 Steven Soderbergh film which has been widely credited as a prescient examination of how a global pandemic might play out. In particular, Hancock wanted his team to heed the movie’s depiction of the complexities of an international race for limited vaccine supply – and make sure that Britain was out in front.
“He was constantly referring to the end of the film,” a former Department of Health and Social Care adviser told Sky. “He was always really aware from the very start, first that the vaccine was really important, second that when a vaccine was developed we would see an almighty global scramble for this thing.”
Hancock was particularly struck by a scene in which a lottery based on birthdates is used to ration supply – not as a policy prescription but as an indication of how precious the vaccine would be.
Comment