THUMBS-UP FOR 100MILLION DOSES
Hancock hails Enigma-style success as watchdog approves Oxford vaccine
THE Oxford coronavirus vaccine has been approved for use in the UK, paving the way for every adult to receive it next year.
The green light for the jab was a ‘great British success story’, said Matt Hancock.
The Health Secretary, who likened the breakthrough to the cracking of the Enigma code in the Second World War, said 530,000 doses will be available on Monday, as the rollout of Britain’s second jab begins. The UK has 100 million doses on order.
A letter sent to all NHS chief executives, primary care networks and GP practices said yesterday’s announcement gave the green light to ‘accelerate vaccine delivery’.
Signed by NHS England chief Sir Simon Stevens, it said the aim ‘is to vaccinate at-risk groups as fast as supply makes possible’.
Experts have advised that giving as many people as possible their first vaccine injection should be the priority, before going back to offer previously inoculated people a second dose. The second dose of the Oxford vaccine can be given up to 12 weeks after the first.
It was revealed yesterday that such a large gap between jabs may even work better, with unpublished trial results showing a second injection is up to 80 per cent effective when it comes three months after the first dose.
The Oxford vaccine – approved yesterday by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) – is seen as a game-changer because of the huge number of doses on order, and it is far cheaper and easier to roll out than the vaccine from Pfizer currently being used. While doses of that jab need to be kept at -70C, the Oxford vaccine is stored at normal fridge temperatures.
In a further boost, pregnant and breastfeeding women are no longer banned from getting protected, and can opt to be inocugreatest lated after discussion with a healthcare professional. Mr Hancock told the Commons: ‘Today’s news means that everyone who wants one can get a vaccine.’
Speaking to Sky News, he added: ‘I am now... highly confident we can get enough vulnerable people vaccinated by the spring that we can now see the route out of this pandemic.’
The Government has been reluctant to adopt the target of two million vaccinations a week amid uncertainty over how quickly the vaccine can be produced and distributed. But Mr Hancock came close to endorsing the target when he responded to a question from Tory former minister Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group.
He said: ‘The NHS can deliver at the pace he mentions if we can get the manufacturing up to that speed as well.’
Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, which is manufacturing the Oxford vaccine, told Radio 4’s Today programme that supplying two million doses a week would be achievable.
As the Oxford vaccine was approved for emergency use, ahead of a full licence being granted, new details emerged on the jab.
Previous data showed the Oxford vaccine was 62 per cent effective when given as two standard doses. When a half- dose was administered, followed by a full dose, it was 90 per cent effective.
Yesterday a new figure for efficacy was given as 73 per cent, when adults receive their second dose of the vaccine between four and 12 weeks after the first.
It could even rise as high as 80 per cent after the full 12 weeks.
The 12 weeks has been seized upon as a way to vaccinate more people with one dose. While experts stressed that two doses were ‘critical’ for the best and longer-lasting protection, Mr Hancock said appointments for people to get their second injection after Monday should be postponed.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which recommends the priority order of people getting coronavirus jabs, said the ‘immediate urgency is for rapid and high levels of vaccine uptake’.
He added: ‘This will allow the
‘A route out of this pandemic’
‘Protect the greatest number of lives’
number of eligible people to receive a vaccine in the shortest time possible and that will protect the greatest number of lives.’ The second dose of the Pfizer vaccination will also be delivered after between three and 12 weeks, under new advice from the JCVI.
Pfizer said it had not evaluated its vaccine on timings beyond two doses 21 days apart.
The first to receive the Oxford vaccine will be patients in hospitals, and it will be rolled out to care homes and family doctors by the end of next week.
By the end of January, everyone aged over 65 should have been vaccinated alongside younger people in high-risk groups such as those with cancer and heart disease.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association council, said last night: ‘It is now crucial that supplies of this vaccine are given to as many GP practice sites and hospital hubs as possible and that this happens as quickly as possible so that we can begin vaccination en masse.’