Covid- 19 vaccines: all your questions answered

Has been approved and will be rolled out across the UK from next week. Here’s what you need to know

These vaccines have been through phase one, phase two and phase three just like ordinary vaccines. With the Pfizer vaccine, I think the total clinical trial size is around 45,000; the AstraZeneca results so far reported are based on just over 24,000 volunteers – there’s at least another 10,000 to follow, and the number for Moderna is similar. These are very, very big studies.

The public can be completely confident that Covid- 19 vaccines will only be available once they have met robust standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.

How have you decided who gets the vaccine first?

The primary thing the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation looked at was death rates by age, by clinical factors, by any other factors that GPs could measure, such as deprivation, geography or ethnicity. It’s very clear the death rate is much higher as you get older, particularly over 75. That’s why we’re prioritising people in older age groups first, then coming down in age, picking up people who are clinically vulnerable and who have underlying conditions.

Those working in health and social care will also be high on the list, as will care- home workers.

Are there any side effects?

All the side effects are predictable – the kind of thing you get with other vaccines: a sore arm, a bit of a temperature or feeling a bit fatigued, so we expect it to have a similar safety profile to other vaccines.

How will the vaccine be rolled out?

The actual act of giving the injection isn’t particularly skillful – with the flu jab, for example, we use health care assistants who work under the supervision of nurses.

I think there’s going to be a lot of different models used. Elderly, frail people clearly aren’t going to drive to their nearest centre so you might have to take vaccine to them in their home. The hospitals will probably be doing their staff, then there will potentially be vaccination sites that are more appropriate for those who are able to drive there.

A normal flu programme will immunise about 15 million people in two and a half to three months – most are done in the first two months. We need enough vaccine – that’s the key issue – and the ones so far all involve two doses. For the first phase of 30 million people, that means about 60 million vaccines. The NHS is going to bring in more staff, so we hope we can do it quickly, but we’re talking several months before a large proportion of the public is immunised. And until we really know how the vaccine is working and how long the protection lasts, it’s hard to predict when we’ll be back to normal life.

Dr Raine Clearly the advice on who gets the vaccine will take into account priorities and the more vulnerable, older people who are at the most serious risk from Covid. We need to use every way possible to reduce the threat of the disease. We know there are vulnerable populations; we know the elderly can be badly affected and it’s up to all of us to make sure we make the right decisions, and follow “hands, face, space”. It’s up to all of us to think about the people we treasure in our family who are at risk, and do our bit to make sure we can get back to normal life and hugging.