Jab bottles now in full production
HOPES rose of an end to the pandemic by Christmas after footage emerged of a Covid- 19 vaccine rolling off a production line.
Drug giant Pfizer is so confident it has found a coronavirus- busting jab it has manufactured “several hundred thousand doses” at its plant in Belgium.
Bottles are being stockpiled ready to be rolled out around the world if clinical trials are a success.
The US pharmaceutical giant hopes to make 100million doses available this year – 40m of which are destined for the UK.
And the company plans to follow that up by knocking out 1.3billion jabs next year in a bid to wipe the virus off the planet.
Pfizer UK boss Ben Osborn said: “It was great to see the first vial coming off the manufacturing line. It just brought this
tremendous smile to my face to see all of this work actually result in a product.’’
The breakthroughs came as it was revealed the NHS is preparing to introduce a vaccine soon after Christmas.
The UK’S deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van- Tam reportedly told MPS that stage three trials of the jab created at Oxford University – which is being produced by pharma giant Astrazeneca – could be rolled out in December.
He said: “We aren’t light years away from it. It isn’t a totally unrealistic suggestion that we could deploy a vaccine soon after Christmas.
“That would have a significant impact on hospital admissions and deaths.’’
Thousands of NHS staff are to undergo training on how to administer a vaccine before the end of the year.
Yesterday the UK recorded a further 16,982 virus cases and 67 more deaths. Infections are up 32% in the past week.