Life in Britain will be “back to normal” after Easter, Health Secretary Matt Hancock assured us, just days before Pfizer’s first coronavirus vaccine rollout was finally confirmed.
But if that’s so, why is his government extending its short term, “emergency” COVID data deals with big tech firms for another five years?
In March, the government quietly announced a potentially ‘unprecedented’ transfer of our personal health information from the NHS to private tech firms. We were told that this COVID datastore was an ‘emergency’ system in response to the pandemic; that it would be unwound at the end of the pandemic and the data destroyed. We were also assured that, if there was any extension of the deal, it would go out to public tender.
