‘We were at a disadvantage in terms of buying power so we sought to be nimble and cooperative’: how government got ready for vaccine rollout Kate Bingham reveals foundations for vaccine taskforce's achievements so far PA images 02 Feb 2021 The chair of the government’s coronavirus vaccine taskforce has set out details of how it worked to prepare for the rollout of the jabs, which has now seen more than 9 million people receive their first dose of protection. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, Kate Bingham, the chair of the UK vaccine taskforce, said that the reason the UK was racing ahead of the EU with its vaccine rollout “was the fact that we actually started scaling up the manufacturing for the Oxford vaccine from February”.