Health workers could start vaccinating Britons against Covid-19 as early as next month, the Health Secretary has confirmed.
Matt Hancock said he had asked the NHS to be ready to roll out doses of a new coronavirus vaccine from the start of December.
Speaking to Sky News after early trials showed the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be 90 per cent effective, he said it was absolutely reasonable for people to see this as a step forward in the fight against the virus.
However, he warned, that it is one step amongst many that we collectively need to take.
Mr Hancock stressed that there were still many hurdles to overcome until the Government could be sure the jab is safe enough to innoculate the public.
He 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.
He said the Government had invested in six different vaccines to make sure there will be enough for everyone who needs it.
Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam told a Downing Street press conference he was hopeful there would be some vaccine by Christmas.
He said: Frankly, we’re in the middle of the second wave, and I don’t see the vaccine making any difference for the wave we are now in. I’m hopeful that it may prevent future waves, but this one we have to battle through to the end without a vaccine.