Military involvement in vaccine roll-out will be a game changer
Cometh the hour, cometh the crisis manager, albeit in camouflage combat clothing. Step forward Brigadier Phil Prosser of the Army’s 101 Logistics Brigade who is to help the Prime Minister roll out the nationwide vaccine programme. It is not yet clear how much authority is being given to the team under Brig Prosser, but he can be sure about who Whitehall will blame if things go wrong.
At Thursday’s Number 10 briefing Brig Prosser said the Army had already accomplished “the equivalent of setting up a major supermarket chain in less than a month.” It has already distributed more than 1.26 million vaccines, established 769 sites, delivered 100 million items of equipment, and, promised the Brigadier, “we will increase our footprint next week by 20 per cent.”
The expertise of 101 Brigade is renowned – they came to the rescue in the 2001 foot and mouth crisis, where they supervised the nationwide disposal of millions of quarantined and infected carcasses. They also provided the backbone to the security checks at the 2012 Olympics after the G4S civilian contractors, hired by Theresa May as Home Secretary, had fallen down on the job.
Once it was clear last spring that a major logistical campaign would be required for testing and tracing, and then providing vaccines against coronavirus, it seemed a no brainer to harness 101 Brigade’s ability to plan, and organize the necessary human effort. UK Home Command, which has responsibility for homeland security and defence, commanded by Lt General Sir Tyrone Urch – honoured in the New Year List – was called up on what appeared very much a piecemeal basis. Servicemen and women helped distribute hazardous products such as oxygen to hospitals, distribute PPE clothing, help build most of the Nightingale hospitals.
But it appeared to be almost a gap-plugging exercise . The approach was rather like calling the midwife when the mother’s waters had already broken. There was downright neuralgia across Whitehall departments from Oliver Dowden’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Department– in charge of the charities sector – to Matt Hancock’s Health Department.
When planning started for a nationwide vaccination campaign last October, the commanders of 101 Logistics Brigade were not invited to the party. But the growing pressure to get the roll-out up to speed has forced Nadhim Zahawi MP, minister for vaccines, to relent and issue an MACA request -military assistance to the civil authority – for the commander 101 Brigade to head up management and logistics for the vaccinations. Better late than never, I suppose.
This has implications far beyond the current phase of the crisis. Brig Prosser is one of the most expert crisis managers in public service today. His command offers a range of skills and capabilities which need to be used to the full, says General Sir Nick Parker, who was in charge of troops helping out in the 2012 Olympics. “They know how to set up and organize centres for running and administering the vaccines. They could set up a thousand sites for getting the vaccinations in a week – and could manage the setup of possibly 10,000 nationwide in a matter of a few weeks.”
Highly experienced in the management of disaster and rescue volunteers, Parker thinks the military can provide much-needed help still required for charities and volunteers in the present crisis. Many of the traditional charities are struggling to step up to new demands for welfare and support. Some are hidebound by a pretty ancient culture of caution and regulation. Parker also thinks that the volunteer effort to help with welfare for the aged and food banks, for instance, is still not organized and tasked to maximum advantage. “Running and training volunteers is a highly professional business.”
Frontline military units have trained medical teams capable of administering and training in injection and vaccination – and capable of acting when things go wrong. The strategic analyst, and former reserve officer, Francis Tusa, believes that military paramedic teams are a missed asset and opportunity, and should be deployed fully in the vaccination as well as the tracing programmes.
Professional and part-time military logistics formations are likely to have an increasing profile in supporting national resilience in times of distress and crisis, not only pandemics but in natural and weather disasters, infrastructure breakdown and major terrorist incidents. National resilience is part of homeland defence. “It’s baked in,” says General Parker. But some of the military senior command are as reluctant as the officials and mandarins of Whitehall to understand, let alone entertain the notion of enhancing this aspect of military contribution to civilian security, cohesion and resilience.
Back in March, as the full implication of Covid was dawning, I asked one of the UK’s four-star commanders, who cannot be named under Queen’s Regulations, about the military role in national resilience in this and future crises. He seemed puzzled by the very suggestion. Yet the civil contingency role of the nation’s forces are clearly stated and implicitly understood in the political cultures of close allies like France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.
The Dutch, for example, called out its federal military police, the Marechaussee, within 48 hours of its major foot and mouth outbreak, leading to successful containment to one district. General Sir Mike Jackson, then the UK Army CinC, reported that it took six weeks to call out the Territorial Army and 101 Brigade in the 2001 outbreak, which was to spread nationwide in England. He said in his subsequent report that the UK should emulate the Dutch and seek contingent military backup sooner rather than later in future foot and mouth emergencies.
This crucial aspect of national security could, and should, be raised in the Integrated Review on Strategic and Defence Policy due next month. “Resilience support is part of securing the homeland as much as fighting foreign wars, and that has to be understood,” says Francis Tusa, defence expert.
Despite recent reports that the Integrated Review is to be watered down, postponed, or even put off for a year, it is now likely to be published early next month. Contrary to negative rumour, it is surprisingly robust according to some who have seen the finished copy. “And the prime minister will expect the main points to be implemented without delay,” one source said today. It is being suggested that the Army strength overall is to be cut from the current 82,000 – though it remains well underrecruited below this – to 72,000. Of this the strength of ‘fully trained soldiers’ – or FTS – will be around 65,000.
The fear is that the current military leadership, and Whitehall, will cut back the logisticians and support experts in order to preserve the fashionable Guards, Infantry and Cavalry regiments. The excellence of 101 Logistics Brigade could be compromised. More worrying is that the even more expert 104 Brigade – specializing in port, transportation, road and rail infrastructure, could be scrapped altogether.
“This wouldn’t be at all right for the demands of the present age and crisis,” says Tusa. “We now have more than enough Infantry such as the Guards, and the Rifles is too big as a regiment, anyway. We need logisticians and signalers, the specialists in cyber warfare and communications.” Their expertise is likely to be needed the more as the Covid crisis is now expected to run well into next year, and further disruptions making similar demands are to be expected.
The role of the military in civil resilience has two very powerful advocates at Westminster in the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, and the Prime Minister himself, Boris Johnson. As London mayor during the Olympics Boris Johnson appreciated the role of the services in managing security, but in training the civilian contractors, too. “He was very appreciative, unlike Theresa may who complained we had too many troops,” says Nick Parker.
In shaping the UK military contribution to mid 21st century British society, Johnson and his defence secretary may be about to give the mandarins of Whitehall their operational instructions, if not marching orders.