Mass coronavirus vaccine rollout in UK 'just three months away' and every adult 'could receive dose by Easter'

Coronavirus vaccination in the UK could be just three months away
PA
Katy Clifton3 October 2020

Coronavirus vaccination in the UK could be just three months away and every adult could receive a dose as soon as Easter, it has been reported.

Hopes have been raised that every adult may be vaccinated within six months after scientists working on the Oxford vaccine suggested it could be approved by regulators before the start of next year.

The Times quoted Government sources involved in the vaccination process as saying they expect a full distribution programme to take six months or less after approval, but it could be even quicker.

"We are looking at closer to six months and it is likely to be far shorter than that," a government source was quoted as saying.

Plans are reportedly being put together to allow a wider group of healthcare staff to administer the vaccine, with training set to begin within weeks.

And in order to deal with the demand, drive-through centres are reportedly being considered and the armed forces are also likely to be called in to help.

However, a Royal Society report this week suggested there would be challenges and delays in producing and distributing a vaccine on such a scale.

Co-author of the report Nilay Shah, head of Imperial College London’s department of chemical engineering, said it could be up to a year until we see everyone vaccinated.

He said: “Even when the vaccine is available it doesn't mean within a month everybody is going to be vaccinated. We're talking about six months, nine months… a year.

“There's not a question of life suddenly returning to normal in March.”

Elderly and vulnerable people would likely be first to receive the vaccine, with young and healthy adults being considered a lower priority group.

It comes after the Government’s chief scientific adviser said that small amounts of a coronavirus vaccine could be made available to certain groups of people before the end of the year.

Sir Patrick Vallance said good progress is being made on developing a vaccine that can fight Covid-19.

In a Downing Street press conference, Sir Patrick said several candidates have shown they can generate an immune response that ought to be protective.

He added: “We don’t yet know they will work but there is increasing evidence that is pointing in the right direction and it is possible that some vaccine could be available before the end of the year in small amounts for certain groups.

“Much more likely that we’ll see vaccines becoming available over the first half of next year, again not certain but pointed in the right direction, which then of course gives the possibility of a different approach to this virus.”

There are more than 240 vaccine trials taking place across the world, with more than 40 in clinical trials.

Nine of the trials are in the later stages, at phase two or three, including the University of Oxford’s vaccine trial which has been undergoing human trials since April.

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