Fresh optimism for a jab before Christmas

HOPES of a vaccine breakthrough were growing last night as it emerged that an announcement on the first to finish clinical trials is expected this week.

The UK has already signed up for 40million doses of the vaccine produced by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer if it works.

Britain is the only country to have secured early access to the vaccine before Christmas, with 10million doses set to be delivered and jabs already rolling off the production line.

Hopes of a vaccine becoming available this year had faded in recent months but sources say results on the jab developed by the German biotech firm BioNtech with Pfizer are likely to come this week.

If the results, based on trials with more than 43,000 people in six countries, are positive, it could be offered to the most elderly and atrisk before Christmas.