Critics of AstraZeneca cannot have it both ways anyway. Perhaps one of the unfortunate consequences of their unfair campaign was that it made Soriot question whether it was worth the personal abuse and the reputational harm to AstraZeneca from what was only ever the most well-meaning of ventures. Did the attacks have the unfortunate effect of hastening the move towards commercialisation?

Besides, there is plenty of good that can come from AstraZeneca’s change of heart. Although “a modest profit” will come from Covid jab sales to developed countries, the company will continue to provide it to less advanced nations at cost.

That means any returns can be used to speed up supplies to the developing world, large sections of which have been left behind in the vaccine race. 

With just 9 percent of the African continent estimated to have had one shot compared with 61 percent in Europe where the priority has turned to booster jabs, the focus can now turn to redressing the balance. But instead of one company footing the bill, high income countries in the west will subsidise those elsewhere.

Alternatively those same profits can be directed towards other equally important parts of AstraZeneca’s operations. Though the statistics show that 5m have died from Covid worldwide, it is both easy to forget and difficult to count how many people have succumbed to other major diseases because their treatment was either delayed or stopped altogether to prioritise those infected with the virus.

After more than 18 months of battling the pandemic, it is easy to forget that the Covid jab is just one small part of what major pharmaceutical companies do.

Following years of criticism about its weak pipeline, AstraZeneca now boasts a series of potentially world-beating oncology drugs in late stage development including Enhertu for breast cancer and Lyparza for prostate cancer, as well as a rare diseases franchise after the £30bn takeover of American rival Alexion, and several treatments for serious respiratory diseases. 

Soriot can’t play missionary worker forever, and the world must start to move on from the pandemic.