Hancock said he would not “pre-judge the outcome” of an NHS pay review process
Health secretary Matt Hancock has refused to promise a pay rise for NHS workers.
Speaking at the government’s evening press briefing, Hancock would not guarantee a post-coronavirus wage increase for frontline healthcare workers.
Hancock was asked by The Independent if he would commit to a pay rise for nurses.
In response, the health secretary said he would not “pre-judge the outcome” of a pay review.
Hancock said: “As you know, we have an independent pay review process. We’ve concluded a three-year agreement with nurses and in fact we’ve just concluded a long-term agreement with junior doctors as well.
“So, though you tempt me, I’m not going to prejudge the outcomes of the independent pay review process.”
It's been a difficult year for so many, but our collective love of the NHS has brought us all together.
I want to thank all who are working in the NHS & across social care in the UK for looking after the nation in our hour of need 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/SsLw1zGSxh
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) November 13, 2020
Matt Hancock also announced that the government have acquired an initial five million doses of the new Moderna vaccine. Manufactured by American researchers, the Moderna vaccine is said to offer almost 95 percent protection from the coronavirus.
Early testing found it to be around 95 percent effective at preventing people from catching the virus, according to data released by Moderna.
This new breakthrough stems from a trial of 30,000 people, and follows in the footsteps of similar data from Pfizer and BioNTech. Pfizer and BioNTech collaborated on a vaccine which they revealed has a success rate of more than 90 percent.
Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna’s can be stored at relatively normal temperatures. Pfizer’s vaccine must be kept in ultra cold storage at around -75C, while Moderna’s remains stable at minus 20C for up to six months.
Both vaccines use a highly experimental approach to teaching the body to protect against the virus, which involves injecting the Covid-19 genetic code into the human body.
According to the BBC, your body’s immune system responds by creating viral proteins, rather than the whole virus, which is sufficient to build up an immunity to Covid-19.
