Global COVID vaccination programme fraught with security challenges
Julian Hall explores the security challenges behind rolling out vaccination programmes, as authorities worldwide contend with physical and cyber threats to operations.
The UK Government’s target of 15 million vaccines administered by mid-February was met this weekend, and with it the UK has reached an important milestone. However, not everyone in vulnerable categories has been reached and the lifting of restrictions, particularly social distancing, looks increasingly dependent on a more comprehensive vaccine rollout.
What of the security operation behind the rollout? The Government will only say that it takes the security of vaccines “extremely seriously” and that, to ensure this, it’s working directly with suppliers and national and international law enforcement agencies, discussing, among other things, “counterfeiting measures and secure transport.”
It has been two years or so since the last ISC West trade show, the biggest security show in the U.S. market. The coronavirus pandemic has caused a year’s worth of trade show cancellations, and the trend will continue for a while longer.
The absence of trade shows has been transformative for the security marketplace, among others, as companies implemented a variety of alternative approaches, with mixed results. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What impact has the cancellation of trade shows had on the security industry?
In the 1977 book, The Age of Uncertainty, author John Kenneth Galbraith wrote, “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.”