Use of data in pandemic to develop the vaccine

The coronavirus pandemic changed the world in many ways, including how we thought about privacy.

The idea of allowing a government app to track where you had been and who you had been in contact with would have been hard to imagine before the pandemic. Likewise, sharing health information to enter your workplace. But there was a widespread understanding of the need to accept a new balance between protecting public health and ensuring that our personal information was being shared and used responsibly.

The Information Commissioner’s Office offered advice and support to government and health bodies in all four UK nations, recognising the vital role that information played in navigating the pandemic and its responsibility, as a regulator, to protect people’s privacy during the development of new technology.

This practical approach extended to the pharmaceutical companies worldwide who joined the critical mission to produce a vaccine at rapid speed.

This required sensitive health information to be shared, so that companies could collaborate with each other to carry out clinical trials around the world. Production of billions of vaccine doses soon started, and the world began to emerge from lockdown and isolation.

The pioneering techniques developed during the global vaccine race continue to have a wider benefit, as seen in the world-first lung cancer vaccine trials taking place across seven countries in 2024.