A CRACK team of cyber spooks have been hired to protect the nation’s top docs from spies, online bots and anti-vaxxing trolls.
Ministers have splashed out £1.4million on a protection unit for Sir Chris Whitty, Sir Patrick Vallance and Britain’s vaccine chiefs safe from attacks.
The Department for Health is concerned after seeing a high spike in death threats as well as online attacks on the docs leading the battle against Covid.
Contracts at the department have been handed to a company to help deal with “Threat to High Profile Individuals within the Vaccine Service.”
The company that won the contract will report misinformation, bots, and also potential foreign actors.
They will also report death threats to “High-Profile Individuals related to the Covid-19 Vaccine.”
The contract started in July last year, shortly after Professor Sir Chris Whitty was harassed yobs in St James’s Park.
Labour’s Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry said: “Our vaccine heroes are doing everything they can to protect us from Covid.
“We must do the same to protect them from threats and abuse. That means not just monitoring what is being said, but punishing those responsible with the full force of the law.”
The Department for Health said it take threats of violence very seriously.
A spokesperson said: “We will not tolerate any harassment or mistreatment of staff and we have a range of measures in place to protect our people, including on online platforms.”
