I’m often asked whether we’re better prepared for the next pandemic. It’s a mixed answer, but the bright spot is scientific progress on vaccines. The Covid vaccines were produced faster than any previous effort, and are credited with saving millions of lives from 2021 onwards. The mRNA vaccines – Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna – were designed within days of the Sars-CoV-2 genome being published in January 2020, and went into safety trials over the following months before finally being approved in the UK at the end of 2020.

But could they have additional benefits? According to a recent study published in Nature, mRNA vaccines seem to trigger a powerful immune response that increases the median survival time by about 75% for certain cancer patients. These findings – which are being further developed – could indicate the power of repurposing vaccines and medicines that have already passed trials for safety and are available at reasonable cost.

How could Covid vaccines play a part in cancer treatment? Cancer develops when normal cells in the body grow and divide without control. Usually, cell division is strictly controlled, but when certain mutations happen – sometimes caused by tobacco, or radiation, inherited genetic factors or environmental exposure – the body is no longer able to stop uncontrolled cell growth. These cells (often referred to as malignant) build up to form a tumour – an abnormal growth. To keep growing, these cells create new blood vessels to feed themselves and start to spread around the body – called metastasis.

Our immune system is excellent at recognising........

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