Pharmaceutical chief pledges vaccine by September despite warning of 50% chance of success

British people will be able to access a coronavirus vaccine from September, the chief executive of drug maker AstraZeneca has said, despite concerns it will not be ready.

Pascal Soriot told The Andrew Marr Show yesterday that British people will get first access to the vaccine from autumn.

The pharmaceutical firm, which is working with Oxford University, had previously said it has secured the first agreements for at least 400 million doses of the vaccine.

But a leading member of the project told The Sunday Telegraph the lower transmission of Covid-19 in the community leaves the trial with only a 50% chance of success.

Asked if people in Britain will be among the first to get the vaccine, Mr Soriot said: “Yes, we have actually received an order from the British Government to supply 100 million

“We’re in the bizarre position of wanting Covid to stay

doses of vaccine, and those will go to the British people.

“And there’s no doubt, starting in September, we will start delivering these doses of vaccine to the British Government for vaccination.”

But Mr Soriot went on to say the possibility of the vaccine being rolled out in autumn depended on an Oxford University trial working before the transmission rate lowers further.

He added: “The vaccine has to work and that’s one question, and the other question is, even if it works, we have to be able to demonstrate it.

“We have to run as fast as possible before the disease disappears so we can demonstrate that the vaccine is effective.”

Professor Adrian Hill, director of the university’s Jenner Institute, said:“We’re in the bizarre position of wanting Covid to stay, at least for a little while.”