The majority of vaccinations will occur in 2021
The Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told the NHS to be ready to implement the COVID-19 vaccine ‘from the start of December’.
This means health workers could begin to vaccinate the most vulnerable from next month onwards.
Matt Hancock was speaking to Sky News after it was revealed that a COVID-19 vaccine trialled by Pfizer-BioNTech is 90% effective.
Hancock said that, while this is a positive step in the right direction, there are many more obstacles to overcome in the fight against coronavirus.
The health secretary said:
“We haven’t seen the full safety data, and obviously that is critical.
“We won’t deploy a vaccine unless we can be confident in its clinical safety, but we also do need to be ready should a vaccine be licensed and get through all those hurdles and be ready to roll it out.”
Hancock said the UK Government has invested in six different vaccines to ensure there will be sufficient supply for the entire population.
As it stands, the government has invested in enough of the Pfizer vaccine for 20 million people.
He said: “We have secured 40 million doses in total of the Pfizer vaccine and that means we can roll it out to 20 million people because it requires two doses per person.
“This is why we have been buying across the board. We need to secure enough for everybody who needs one according to that clinical prioritisation.”
The Covid-19 vaccine will not be made compulsory in the UK, but for the majority of people, vaccinations are likely to begin in 2021.
Speaking specifically about the Pfizer vaccine, Hancock said it is “absolutely reasonable for people to see this as a step forward,” but warned the country is not out of the woods yet.
He added it is “one step amongst many that we collectively need to take.”
