Footnotes

• X @ajpollard1

• OA and EAL contributed equally.

• Contributors EAL and OA contributed equally to this paper and have been listed alphabetically. AJP devised the proof outline, with contributions from GA and MER. EAL and OA reviewed the relevant literature and wrote the draft, with the assistance of AJP, GA and MER. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript for submission and take responsibility for its content.

• Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

• Competing interests AJP is chair of the UK Department for Health and Social Care’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and was a member of the WHO’s SAGE until 2022. Oxford University entered into a partnership with AstraZeneca for development of COVID-19 vaccines. AJP has had grants with the Gates Foundation, Wellcome, CEPI, MRC, NIHR, AstraZeneca, EC and the Serum Institute of India, all of which were paid to his institution.

• Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

• Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.