A British Doctor who teaches at Oxford has claimed she does not want British scientists to win the coronavirus vaccine race as if that happens, it will be clear that “China, once again, has unleashed a threat to civilisation. But the best brains of the UK have saved the world” Dr Emily Cousens wrote in the Huffing Post.
Writing for the US media outlet, Dr Cousens wrote: “If my university is the first to develop the vaccine, I’m worried it will be used to fulfil its political, patriotic function as proof of British excellence.”
She worried that the United Kingdom may be able to “save the world” with a vaccine and this would cast a shadow over what she saw as a failure by HM’s government to take action soon enough, she wrote: “If there is enough vaccine to go round, the UK will be the world’s saviour. We’ll quickly forget the devastating delay of the UK government to take action, as Boris Johnson proudly safeguarded British institutions like individual liberty, and the pub, over lives.
“We’ll forget the lessons that the pandemic has taught us so far: that the UK and the US are in fact not exceptions at the global stage. That we are not only vulnerable but can also afford to learn lessons from countries, regardless of whether we have a special relationship with them – such as South Korea. That being white, male and Oxford-educated may not be the only criteria for effective leadership (the countries whose responses have been most widely praised, Germany and New Zealand among others, are all led by women).
“The race is on and researchers at Oxford are doing vital, life-saving work. But races have winners and losers. If my university is the first to develop the vaccine, I’m worried that it will be used as it has been in the past, to fulfil its political, patriotic function as proof of British excellence.”
Dr Emily Cousens researches vulnerability and gender at Oxford Brookes University and teaches on the women’s studies masters course at the University of Oxford.7
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