Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal: key facts
- Kind of voice
- Regulator
- Role
- Consultant Epidemiologist – Immunisations (COVID-19, Influenza and other respiratory viruses)
- Organisation
- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
- Organisation based in
- Hendon
- Quoted on
- Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
- Tracked press citations
- 2
- Most recently quoted
- 27 Aug 2026
Who Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal is
Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal is a Consultant Epidemiologist in the Immunisation and Vaccine-preventable Diseases Division at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), based in Colindale, London. He leads UKHSA's work on real-world evaluation of COVID-19 vaccines and is a regular public voice on seasonal flu and COVID-19 surveillance. He trained at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has held previous roles at Public Health England and as a Visiting Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School. He is lead or senior author on multiple peer-reviewed papers in the New England Journal of Medicine, the BMJ, Nature Medicine, and The Lancet Infectious Diseases, and is recognised as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. His research focuses on vaccine effectiveness methodology, immunisation surveillance, and respiratory virus epidemiology.
“If you have flu-like symptoms such as a high temperature, cough or are feeling tired and achy – try to limit contact with others, especially those at higher risk. Wash your hands regularly, keep indoor spaces well-ventilated, and if you need to go out while unwell, consider wearing a face mask.”
References for this biography
- 1.Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal – British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy speaker profile — Confirms role as Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA leading on COVID vaccines and real-world vaccine evaluation
- 2.Latest UKHSA surveillance data shows flu and COVID-19 are on the rise – UKHSA Newsroom — Press quote confirming current title (Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA) and role as public spokesperson on flu and COVID-19 surveillance (2025)
- 3.James Lopez Bernal – UKHSA Research Portal — Confirms affiliation with UKHSA and lists peer-reviewed research output
- 4.Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccines against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant – PubMed / NEJM — Confirms lead authorship of landmark NEJM Delta vaccine effectiveness paper (2021)
- 5.Effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines on covid-19 related symptoms, hospital admissions, and mortality in older adults in England – PubMed / BMJ — Confirms lead authorship of major BMJ vaccine effectiveness paper (2021)
- 6.Flu vaccine providing important protection despite new subclade – GOV.UK — Recent (2025) press quote confirming current role title and area of work on flu vaccine effectiveness
- 7.Lopez Bernal, Jamie – Google Scholar — Confirms research citation profile (over 26,000 citations) and subject areas: vaccines, immunisation, infectious disease, public health, epidemiology
Notable achievements
- Lead author of the landmark New England Journal of Medicine study (2021) on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, one of the most-cited COVID vaccine papers globally. Source ↗
- Lead author on the BMJ test-negative case-control study of Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine effectiveness on COVID-19 symptoms, hospital admissions, and mortality in older adults in England (BMJ 2021;373:n1088). Source ↗
- Recognised as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, as noted on his LinkedIn profile. Source ↗
- Senior author on UKHSA early-season flu vaccine effectiveness study (2025/26) showing 70–75% effectiveness in children and 30–40% in adults, published as a GOV.UK press release. Source ↗
What Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal has said
“if someone had flu-like symptoms and needed to go out while unwell, they could 'consider wearing a face mask'.”
consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Health experts criticise NHS chief’s remarks that people with flu symptoms ‘must wear face masks’ ↗
Where Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal has been quoted
- Should people wear a mask in public if they feel unwell with flu?theguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
- Health experts criticise NHS chief’s remarks that people with flu symptoms ‘must wear face masks’theguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
Related media coverage
Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.
Contact & links
- Staff pagehttps://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/author/jamie-lopez-bernal/
- Staff pagehttps://researchportal.ukhsa.gov.uk/en/persons/james-lopez-bernal/
- ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1301-5653
- Websitehttps://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=Mvx5vy4AAAAJ&hl=en
Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.
Named officials of regulators, arms-length bodies and public agencies such as the CQC, NHS England or a local authority association. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.