No mass vaccination before Christmas

Lack of capacity means mass deployment of a jab is unlikely before Christmas, even if trials are successful

Britain will not have the capacity to roll out a vaccine widely before Christmas after missing targets to produce 30 million doses, it emerged yesterday. Kate Bingham, who chairs the UK Vaccine Taskforce, told MPS that supplies of the Astrazeneca Oxford vaccine were currently in their “low millions” and she was expecting only four million to be available by the end of the year. In May, the Government promised that 30 million doses of the vaccine would be ready by September.

BRITAIN will not have the capacity to roll out a vaccine widely before Christmas after missing targets to produce 30 million doses, it emerged yesterday.

Kate Bingham, who chairs the UK Vaccine Taskforce, told MPS that supplies of the Astrazeneca Oxford vaccine were currently in their “low millions” and she was expecting only four million to be available by the end of the year.

In May, the Government promised that 30 million doses of the vaccine would be ready by September to allow immediate mass deployment once current trials are successfully concluded.

Asked whether the target had been met at the Commons science and technology select committee, Ms Bingham said: “No. So, that 30 million doses was assuming a linear yield on scale up.

“It’s not through lack of care and attention or availability, it’s just that it normally takes a very long time. We’re growing viral cells; it’s not a straightforward activity. It is challenging.”

The Government is likely to vaccinate older and vulnerable people first as well as healthcare workers. Yet there are 12 million over-65s and around 1.4 million healthcare workers, so the hold-up means that fewer than a quarter would be able to access the jab.

But Ms Bingham said that the lack of drugs should not cause a hold up.

“Actually we’re going to have more vaccines than we’re able to deploy,” she said. “I don’t think vaccine supply is going to be the limiting factor.”

Earlier in the hearing, Prof Andrew Pollard, the chief trial investigator for the Oxford vaccine, said he was still hopeful that results would be available before Christmas.

Prof Robin Shattock, who is leading the development of Imperial College’s vaccine, said he was expecting their vaccine to be available by next summer.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 patients in British hospitals will be given aspirin in a new trial to find out whether the drug could prevent deadly blood clotting in the lungs. Some studies have shown that nearly 80 per cent of those who die of Covid-19 have thrombosis – or blood clotting – in the lungs.

If proven effective, it would be the first over-the-counter drug shown to have an impact on Covid-19.

Prof Chris Whitty has been forced to correct evidence he gave to MPS in which he appeared to claim coronavirus cases in Liverpool were not falling in older age groups. Yesterday England’s Chief Medical Officer wrote to Greg Clark, the committee’s chairman, saying that he had not been talking about Liverpool specifically, and accepted that cases in older people were continuing to fall in the city.