The UK has become the first country in the world to have a “clinically authorised” Covid-19 vaccine to roll out, after the Pfizer/BioNTech jab received regulatory approval on Wednesday morning.
Results from clinical trials show it to be 95 per cent effective and works in all age groups.
But what does this mean for people in the UK and when can we expect to receive the vaccine?
What's in the pipeline for the UK?
The government has secured 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, with 10 million due in the UK by the end of the year.
Patients need two doses, meaning not enough shots have been secured for the entire UK population.
How will a vaccine be rolled out?
Work has been going on behind the scenes to ensure that NHS staff are ready to start delivering jabs to the most vulnerable, as well as health and care workers, as a priority.
The NHS Nightingale Hospitals have also been earmarked as sites for mass vaccination clinics – among other uses.
In addition, NHS leaders have said there will be “roving teams” deployed to vaccinate care home residents and workers.
Based on the current information, the vaccines being developed require two doses per patient, with a 21- to 28-day gap between doses.
New regulations allowing more healthcare workers to administer flu and potential Covid-19 vaccines have also been introduced by the government.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has examined data on who suffer the worst outcomes from coronavirus and who is at highest risk of death.
Its interim guidance says the order of priority should be:
1. Older adults in a care home and care home workers
2. All those who are 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers
3. All those who are 75 years of age and over
4. All those who are 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals, excluding pregnant women and those under 18 years of age
5. All those who are 65 years of age and over
6. Adults aged 16 to 65 years in an at-risk group
7. All those aged 60 and over
8. All those aged 55 and over
9. All those aged 50 and over
Where is the vaccine being made?
Pfizer has a manufacturing site in Belgium, and BioNTech has sites in Germany, both of which will be producing vaccine doses for Europe.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told BBC Breakfast: “Next week, there'll be 800,000, so it’s the first start. We’ll then deploy at the speed that it’s manufactured, and the manufacturing is, of course, being done by Pfizer in Belgium, so that will determine the speed at which we can roll it out.”
Don’t vaccines take a long time to produce?
In the past it has taken years, sometimes decades, to produce a vaccine.
Traditionally, vaccine development includes various processes, including design and development stages followed by clinical trials – which in themselves need approval before they even begin.
But in the trials for a Covid-19 vaccine, things look slightly different. A process which usually takes years has been condensed to months.
While the early design and development stages look similar, the clinical trial phases overlap, instead of taking place sequentially.
And pharmaceutical firms have begun manufacturing before final approval has been granted – taking on the risk that they may be forced to scrap their work.
The new way of working means that regulators around the world can start to look at scientific data earlier than they traditionally would do.
Aren’t there other vaccines?
Yes, recent data from the Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Moderna vaccine trials suggests their candidates also have high efficacy.
Oxford data indicates the vaccine has 62 per cent efficacy when one full dose is given followed by another full dose, but when people were given a half dose followed by a full dose at least a month later, its efficacy rose to 90 per cent.
The combined analysis from both dosing regimes resulted in an average efficacy of 70.4 per cent.
Final results from the trials of Moderna’s vaccine suggest it has 94.1 per cent efficacy, and 100 per cent efficacy against severe Covid-19.
Nobody who was vaccinated with the vaccine known as mRNA-1273 developed severe coronavirus.
The early contenders all have high efficacy rates, but researchers say it is difficult to make direct comparisons because it is not yet known exactly what everyone is measuring in the trials.
How many doses has the UK secured?
The UK has secured access to 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, which is almost enough for most of the population.
It also belatedly struck a deals for 7 million doses of the jab on offer from Moderna in the US.
The deals cover four different classes: adenoviral vaccines, mRNA vaccines, inactivated whole virus vaccines and protein adjuvant vaccines.
The UK has secured access to:
- 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine
- 60 million doses of the Novavax vaccine
- Some 30 million doses from Janssen
- 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
- 60 million doses of a vaccine being developed by Valneva
- 60 million doses of protein adjuvant vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi Pasteur
- 7 million doses of the jab on offer from Moderna in the US
Pfizer/BioNTech is making its vaccine available not-for-profit.
According to reports, the Moderna vaccine could cost about $38 (£28) per dose and the Pfizer candidate could cost around $20 (£15).
Researchers suggest the Oxford vaccine could be relatively cheap to produce, with some reports indicating it could be about £3 per dose.
AstraZeneca said it will not sell it for a profit, so it can be available to all countries.
However, the details of the deals made by the government have not been made public.
How do we know the vaccines are safe?
Researchers reported their trials do not suggest any significant safety concerns.