This morning, Pfizer and BioNTech released preliminary data about the efficacy of their Covid-19 vaccine which they “expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.”
This is really good news, but don’t go tearing off your mask and start hugging your neighbours just yet!
The UK government, one of the first governments to strike an agreement for the new vaccine, said it is “optimistic about a breakthrough” but urged people to remember “there are no guarantees”.
Once the vaccine begins to be rolled out in the UK, different groups will be prioritised access to it, based on their levels of risk.
Who will get the vaccine first?
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has examined data on who suffers the worst outcomes from coronavirus and who is at highest risk of death.
Its interim guidance says the order of priority should be:
- Older adults in a care home and care home workers
- All those aged 80 and over and health and social care workers, though they may move up the list
- Anyone 75 and over
- People aged 70 and over
- All those aged 65 and over
- High-risk adults under 65
- Moderate-risk adults under 65
- All those aged 60 and over
- All those 55 and over
- All those aged 50 and over
- The rest of the population, with priority yet to be determined
Is the vaccine safe?
The vaccine has been tested on more than 43,000 people in six countries, with no safety concerns raised.
While studies will continue and further approvals need to be granted, it is expected that the companies will begin distributing the vaccine in the next few weeks.
In order for the vaccine to be effective people will need to take two doses, meaning the UK will not have enough for everyone.
