Queen’s birthday honours: UK vaccine chief given damehood, as list celebrates jab pioneers
Host of awards go to experts who transformed Britain’s response to Covid crisis
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Your support makes all the difference.The government official who spearheaded the push to get Britain’s Covid vaccine programme up and running has been handed a damehood at the Queen’s birthday honours list.
Kate Bingham is recognised for her working leading the Vaccine Taskforce, the body in charge of both procuring and manufacturing coronavirus vaccines in the UK, until December last year.
Professor Sarah Gilbert, who led the Oxford University team which successfully developed the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca, also receives a damehood for her pivotal role during the crisis.
Two England stars, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling, are given MBEs for services to charity and championing racial equality in sport, respectively.
The Great British Bake Off presenter Prue Leith and Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips are awarded damehoods, while actor Jonathan Pryce, who will play Prince Philip in the final seasons of The Crown, is knighted.
In politics, damehoods are awarded to Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom and Labour MP Meg Hillier MP, while Labour MP Tony Lloyd MP receives a knighthood.
Ms Leadsom, the former business secretary, is joined on the honours list by fellow Brexiteer Oliver Lewis – a veteran of the Vote Leave campaign – who is made a CBE for political and public service.
Dame Andrea said she was “deeply honoured” to be recognised, adding: “It is an immense privilege to be recognised for service to politics.”
But it was those who helped the country cope with the Covid crisis – from frontline health and social care staff to charity workers and vaccine researchers – who dominate this year’s honours list.
Almost one in four (23 per cent) of recipients were recommended for their service during the pandemic.
CBEs are awarded to Ian McCubbin, the manufacturing expert on the vaccine taskforce, and Mark Proctor, global supply strategist at UK-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
Professor Linda Bauld has said she is “delighted” to have been made an OBE after putting in “many, many hours” with public health colleagues during the coronavirus pandemic.
She has also been an adviser to the Scottish parliament’s Covid committee, all while continuing her role as chair of public health at Edinburgh University.
Divya Chadha Manek receives an OBE for her work in the research and development of life-saving vaccines and clinical trials across Britain.
Ms Manek said the Covid crisis had “shone a light” on the importance of vaccine research, and praised the thousands of volunteers who took part in vital trials since the pandemic began.
She added: “When I was 18, I left India and came to the UK. My dad gave me £500. He said to me, ‘Be good, do good and do something amazing so that you get to meet the Queen one day.’ I lost my father last year. To me this honour is so personal, so amazing.”
Ms Bingham, the venture capitalist awarded a damehood after overseeing the procurement of millions of vaccine doses, said she was “proud and humbled” by the honour.
She hailed the work of the “brilliant” Vaccine Taskforce team, adding: “I am thrilled that so many women have made such enormous contributions to science, healthcare, manufacturing and technology during the pandemic. I hope this encourages more girls to pursue careers in these sectors.”
Amanda Guest and her brother John Brownhill are both given the British Empire Medal (BEM) for setting up Food4Heroes, a charity founded to get meals out to NHS hospital staff across Yorkshire during the exhausting first wave.
“It’s an absolute honour to have this award,” said Ms Guest. “By the end of July 2020 we had delivered 250,000 meals to hospitals. We had so many people helping – so many people delivering meals, so many chefs making the food for us.”
The Cabinet Office said the latest birthday honours list is the most ethnically diverse list to date, with 15 per cent of recipients coming from an ethnic minority background.
“Throughout the pandemic we have seen countless examples of every day heroes,” said Boris Johnson. “May they be a reminder of all that we can achieve when we come together as a society.”
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