UK expects to know Omicron vaccine impact in a week

She added that she currently expected that the leading shots would still show efficacy.

"The question is do they have the same level of efficacy?" she said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference on Wednesday (December 1).

Bingham, who has returned to her role as managing partner at SV Health Investors, said Britain had built up the capability to quickly test existing vaccines against new variants.

"It's not something you can do overnight, but we will get data, I would have thought within a week as to whether or not the vaccines work or don't," she said.

Under Bingham's leadership, the UK taskforce ordered vaccines as they were still being trialled, securing supplies from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and others to give Britain a head start in the rollout.