NEXT STEPS THE ROAD TO PROTECTION FOR ALL

Drugs regulators including the European Medicines Agency and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency consider safety data from the Pfizer trial at the same time as it is considered by the Food and Drug Administration in the US. Pfizer say this data could be available as soon as next week.

Oxford University and Astrazeneca, working on a separate trial, are expected to publish safety and efficacy data shortly. If successful, the drug firm could apply for a licence at around the same time.

The EMA and MHRA will be examining safety data from the Pfizer trial simultaneously, but the European watchdog requires 27 member states to agree its decision. If the UK wants to move faster, the MHRA can make its own decision, on a temporary basis.

After Britain leaves the EU on Dec 31, the MHRA will make its own decisions permanently.

Under NHS plans for the mass vaccination programme, GPS have been told to be ready to start administering jabs by the start of December. There is some optimism that the first vaccines could be handed out before Christmas.

Everyone offered a jab will have to have two doses at least three weeks apart to be fully protected. This means that while the most vulnerable may have had their first jabs before Christmas, it is unlikely that anyone will be fully protected by the end of the year.

The Government is far more optimistic about the impact that could be seen by spring. Britain has ordered 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccines by the end of this year, with 30 million to come later.

In total, more than 350 million doses of different types of vaccines have been “pre-ordered”.

Yesterday, Prof Jonathan Van-tam, deputy chief medical officer, said that the most significant point about the Pfizer trial results was that it was “good news for many of the vaccines to come” because almost all target the same protein. As a result, leading scientists shared a day of optimism about 2021. Sir John Bell, a leading government adviser, said he could declare “with some confidence” that life could be back to normal by spring.