Military and NHS ready to roll out Covid-19 jab from next month, says Suffolk MP Matt Hancock

Health Secretary and West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock says the military and NHS staff are on standby to roll out a Covid-19 vaccine across the UK from the start of December.

Mr Hancock said there were many hurdles to overcome before the “vast task” of vaccination could begin, including regulatory approval of the new Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and assessment of its safety data.

But he said the NHS was leading work to get a vaccine to those most in need as soon as possible, though most people will not get a jab until 2021.

He told Sky News: “I’ve asked the NHS who are supported by the armed services in this – but the NHS very much leading this effort for deploying the vaccine – I’ve asked them to be ready from the start of December.

“And, of course, there are many hurdles that still need to be gone over and we haven’t seen the full safety data and obviously that is critical and 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 ready to roll it out.”

Mr Hancock said it had always been his expectation that most people will not get a jab until 2021, with priority given to those in care homes, the elderly and health and social care staff.

“We’ve always been clear that our central expectation for the rollout of a vaccine should a vaccine come good… the central expectation of the bulk of the rollout and deployment has always been in the first part of 2021,” he said.

Mr Hancock urged people not to drop their guard and stop following the rules around social distancing, saying coronavirus is “still a deadly disease”.

He also said he was “not going to put a date on” when life may get back to normal after Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University and a member of the Government’s vaccine taskforce, said he was confident people could look forward to a return to normal life by the spring.

“This is promising news, but it is one step of many that we need to take to get out of this and to tackle this pandemic once and for all,” Mr Hancock added.

The Cabinet minister acknowledged there was “enormous complexity” in storing and administering the Pfizer vaccine, which needs to be kept in cold storage of around minus 80C.

“You describe some of the enormous complexity of the deployment of this vaccine, and the need to keep it at such a cold temperature is obviously very complicated,” he said.

“Also, you can’t take it out of that freezer more than four times on its journey from the manufacturing plant into the arm of patients… so that brings its complications.

“I’m sure that the NHS is going to rise to this challenge of deployment, and we’ve been working on it for four months now.

“What I’d say is this is a promising step, but there’s many steps still to come.”

Regarding progress on the vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, Mr Hancock said he did not know when their first data would be released.

“We’re not exactly sure when further news will come from the Oxford trial,” he said.

“But we’re working again to ensure that that can be deployed, should it come off.”

The UK Government has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine – enough for about a third of the UK population.

It expects 10 million of these doses to arrive in the UK before the end of this year.

Scientists have hailed the announcement from Pfizer and BioNTech as a significant breakthrough in the fight against coronavirus.

Stock markets rallied on the news, with the FTSE 100 jumping more than 5.5%.

Dr Richard Vautrey, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee in England, said practices would “stand ready” to deliver a vaccine, with clinics potentially running from 8am-8pm, seven days a week.

In a Downing Street press conference on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed news of the vaccine breakthrough but said it would be a mistake to “slacken our resolve at such a critical moment”.

He urged people to stick with the rules around coronavirus, saying there was still a long way to go.

To keep up-to-date with all the latest developments with your local hospitals and other health stories, click these links:

https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/news/health/

https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/news/coronavirus-stats/

You can subscribe to our app and get the news as it breaks, with exclusive content, for just £4.99 a month. Details are here of how you can support local journalism and local democracy:

https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/subscribe/