It’s probably not too much of a stretch to suggest the NHS would be in full meltdown by now were it not for the success of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.

The situation in China provides a frightening picture of where we could be without it, even if things aren’t exactly a bed of roses.

So, it was interesting to see Rishi Sunak single out the programme as the model for his new “mission”: to supercharge the NHS and, in particular, the war against obesity.

At least that’s how it was presented in today’s newspapers, which universally failed to point out this was in fact a rehash of a policy announced in July last year under Boris Johnson and a certain business secretary named Kwasi Kwarteng (remember him?).

To be fair to Sunak, he’s been in power only slightly longer than Matt Hancock was in the jungle. He’s had little time to make his mark. And it is a potentially significant move, rehash or not.

In a bid to tackle the £6.1bn drag to the economy that is obesity, the PM will meet business leaders and NHS bosses to come up with a new strategy. It’s part of a £113m war chest to be invested into obesity and three other healthcare missions: cancer, mental health and addiction.

In line with the Vaccines Taskforce, the four healthcare missions will be led by an independent chair – an expert in that field – who will drive collaboration across partners, including industry.

The obesity chair has yet to be revealed, though an 18-month contract worth more than £100,000 a year has been advertised, calling for an experienced life sciences figure who will “take an innovative partnership approach across government, the NHS, academia, industry, charities and people living with obesity”.

“This will involve delivering cutting-edge research, in diverse populations, to understand and evaluate scalable, cost-effective and innovative models for treating obesity using life sciences innovations, in line with our levelling up agenda,” says the job description.

Sunak and his new health secretary Steve Barclay have committed an initial £20m towards developing new medicines and technologies to help people living with obesity, especially in deprived communities.

While not quite a total re-announcement – in fact, the “bold” plans revealed by Johnson in July last year had no less than seven missions, presumably requiring seven new health ‘tsars’ – it does however once again pose the possibility of a major change of direction in the government’s public health policy.

It’s certainly a world away from polices like the sugar tax, the HFSS clampdown, the junk food watershed and others that were brought forward under Johnson.

It also poses questions as to how the new body will work with the Office for Health Promotion, now renamed as the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities, which took over from Public Health England after its high-profile failures during the pandemic.

Quite what role will be played by the food and drink industry remains unclear, but campaign groups have seized on today’s announcement as a sign ministers could be about to row back further on the government’s obesity strategy, by switching the onus on to health interventions and personal responsibility for healthier diets. 

It’s still not clear whether Sunak will be more or less ‘nanny state’ than his old boss, but with a raft of measures from the former administration yet to see the light of day –  including the Sugar Reduction Report, the plans for a calories reduction programme, and the legislation to formally pave the way for the junk food ad ban – it is a potentially pivotal time for public health policy.

As Sunak and his government emerge from 24/7 firefighting to policymaking, all eyes will be on which other policies make it past Christmas. 

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