Jenny Harries
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dame Jennifer Margaret Harries is a British
public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...
physician who has been the chief executive of the
UK Health Security Agency The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a government agency responsible for all health security in England, and some reserved public health protection matters across the whole of the United Kingdom. It is an executive agency of the Department ...
(UKHSA) and head of
NHS Test and Trace NHS Test and Trace was a government-funded service in England, established in 2020 to track and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The programme is part of the UK Health Security Agency; the service and the agency are headed by Jenny Harr ...
since May 2021. She was previously a regional director at
Public Health England Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in England which began operating on 1 April 2013 to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. Its formation came as a ...
, and then Deputy
Chief Medical Officer for England In the United Kingdom, a chief medical officer (CMO) is the most senior government advisor on matter relating to health. There are four chief medical officers in the United Kingdom who are appointed to advise their respective governments: * His M ...
from June 2019 until her UKHSA appointment in 2021.


Early life and education

Born in
Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...
, Harries studied medicine at the
University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...
gaining an intercalated BSc in pharmacology in 1981 and medical degrees,
MB ChB A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...
, in 1984.


Career

Harries was Regional Director for the South of England for
Public Health England Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in England which began operating on 1 April 2013 to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. Its formation came as a ...
from February 2013 before being appointed Deputy Chief Medical officer for England in June 2019. The appointment of a new Chief Medical Officer for England,
Chris Whitty Sir Christopher John MacRae Whitty (born 21 April 1966) is a British epidemiologist, serving as Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government since 2019. Whitty was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department ...
was announced simultaneously. Effective 7 May 2021, Harries was appointed as the first chief executive of the new
UK Health Security Agency The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a government agency responsible for all health security in England, and some reserved public health protection matters across the whole of the United Kingdom. It is an executive agency of the Department ...
, which combines
Public Health England Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in England which began operating on 1 April 2013 to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. Its formation came as a ...
and England's
NHS Test and Trace NHS Test and Trace was a government-funded service in England, established in 2020 to track and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The programme is part of the UK Health Security Agency; the service and the agency are headed by Jenny Harr ...
. Although the organisation was established on 1 April 2021, Harries assumed this role following a hand-over period which lasted until
Dido Harding Diana Mary "Dido" Harding, Baroness Harding of Winscombe (born November 1967) is a British businesswoman and life peer who served as chair of NHS Improvement from 2017 to 2021, and as interim chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UK ...
, the interim chief executive, departed on 7 May 2021.
022 022 may refer to: * Leduc 022, a French prototype aircraft * Tyrrell 022 The Tyrrell 022 was the car with which the Tyrrell Racing, Tyrrell team competed in the 1994 Formula One World Championship. The car was powered by the Yamaha Motor Compan ...
EWHC 298 (Admin)
She was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(OBE) in the
2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...
and
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(DBE) in the
2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
for services to health.


Role in the UK government response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Harries appeared at some of the daily press conferences held by the UK government to provide updates about the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. She contributed medical information and answered questions from the press, however some of her statements, including suggesting that those receiving fake virus-tracing phone calls could identify them from the tone of the conversation, or that the UK had a "perfectly adequate supply of PPE", met with controversy and calls by scientists such as Professor Anthony Costello, director of University College London's Institute for Global Health, for her to resign. In early March 2020, Harries stated "the virus will not survive very long outside," and "many outdoor events, particularly, are relatively safe," and warned that it was "not a good idea" for members of the public to wear a mask in which the virus could get trapped, thus increasing the risk of infection. Cheltenham Festival, a four-day event started weeks later and attended by about 150,000 people, was referred to in the following month by Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, as "the best possible way to accelerate the spread of the virus". Harries suggested in March 2020 that the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
(WHO)'s advice to "test, test, test" people for COVID-19 and trace their contacts was primarily intended for countries that were less well developed than the UK, arguing that "there comes a point in a pandemic where that is not an appropriate intervention": "The clue for WHO is in its title. It is a World Health Organization and it is addressing all countries across the world with entirely different health infrastructures and particularly public health infrastructures. We have an extremely well-developed public health system in this country and in fact our public health teams actually train others abroad. So the point there is that they are addressing every country, including low- and middle-income countries, so encouraging all countries to test of some type," Harries said; other highly developed countries remained committed to extensive testing and experienced fewer deaths. Harries also suggested that the risk of flu or road accident was higher than that posed by COVID-19 for schoolchildren. In December 2021, ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' reported that it was understood that Harries was the source of a contested figure that there was an average 17-day delay between infection and hospitalisation for COVID-19, used by Health Secretary
Sajid Javid Sir Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the ...
. Former Treasury statistician Simon Briscoe was quoted as saying that the figure seemed like either a "deliberate statistical sleight of hand designed to deceive, or incompetence" and that if deliberate, officials were "in effect trying to buy time, as officials realise that data of rising hospitalisations is needed to justify lockdown". In November 2023, the UK COVID-19 Inquiry heard that Harries had recommended in an email that, in the worst situation, elderly COVID-positive patients should be discharged into residential
care home Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (England) West Midlands, Central Accident Resuscitation Emergency team, a team of doctors & ...
s to manage capacity problems in hospitals. The impact on care facilities was controversial, and was linked to the deaths of thousands of people in care homes.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Jenny Civil servants in the Ministry of Health (United Kingdom) Date of birth missing (living people) Living people British women medical doctors People educated at Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls Alumni of the University of Birmingham Date of birth unknown Year of birth missing (living people) Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire