Dominic Cummings (who is a keen LW reader and agrees with Zvi’s most cynical takes about the nature of government) is likely a major factor, although he was gone at the time the first doses first issue arose, the overall success of the UK’s vaccine procurement can be credited to the vaccine taskforce which was an ad-hoc organization set up to be exempt from much of the usual rules, partly due to his influence and that of Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific advisor—that way of thinking may well have leaked into other decisions about vaccine prioritization, and Vallance certainly was involved with the first doses first decision. See this from Cummings’ blog:
This is why there was no serious vaccine plan — i.e spending billions on concurrent (rather than the normal sequential) creation/manufacturing/distribution etc — until after the switch to Plan B. I spoke to Vallance on 15 March about a ‘Manhattan Project’ for vaccines out of Hancock’s grip but it was delayed by the chaotic shift from Plan A to lockdown then the PM’s near-death. In April Vallance, the Cabinet Secretary and I told the PM to create the Vaccine Taskforce, sideline Hancock, and shift commercial support from DHSC to BEIS. He agreed, this happened, the Chancellor supplied the cash. On 10 May I told officials that the VTF needed a) a much bigger budget, b) a completely different approach to DHSC’s, which had been mired in the usual processes, so it could develop concurrent plans, and c) that Bingham needed the authority to make financial decisions herself without clearance from Hancock.
(I see the success of the UK vaccine taskforce and its ability to have a somewhat appropriate sense of the costs and benefits involved and the enormous value of vaccinations, to be a good example of how it’s institution design that is the key issue which most needs fixing. Have an efficient, streamlined taskforce, and you can still get things done in government.)
Other differences that may be relevant: this UK Government arguably has much more slack than the US under Biden or Trump. The UK’s system gives very broad powers to the executive as long as they have a majority in parliament, this government is relatively popular due to the perception that it followed through on getting Brexit done, and we were in the middle of an emergency when that delay decision was authorized. Also, vaccine hesitancy is significantly lower in the UK than the US, and therefore fear of vaccine hesitancy by policymakers (which seemed to be driving the CDCs intransigence) is also significantly lower.
Dominic Cummings (who is a keen LW reader and agrees with Zvi’s most cynical takes about the nature of government) is likely a major factor, although he was gone at the time the first doses first issue arose, the overall success of the UK’s vaccine procurement can be credited to the vaccine taskforce which was an ad-hoc organization set up to be exempt from much of the usual rules, partly due to his influence and that of Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific advisor—that way of thinking may well have leaked into other decisions about vaccine prioritization, and Vallance certainly was involved with the first doses first decision. See this from Cummings’ blog:
(I see the success of the UK vaccine taskforce and its ability to have a somewhat appropriate sense of the costs and benefits involved and the enormous value of vaccinations, to be a good example of how it’s institution design that is the key issue which most needs fixing. Have an efficient, streamlined taskforce, and you can still get things done in government.)
Other differences that may be relevant: this UK Government arguably has much more slack than the US under Biden or Trump. The UK’s system gives very broad powers to the executive as long as they have a majority in parliament, this government is relatively popular due to the perception that it followed through on getting Brexit done, and we were in the middle of an emergency when that delay decision was authorized. Also, vaccine hesitancy is significantly lower in the UK than the US, and therefore fear of vaccine hesitancy by policymakers (which seemed to be driving the CDCs intransigence) is also significantly lower.