The Covid-19 vaccine by numbers

How does it work?

The Covid-19 vaccine, just like any other vaccine, works by teaching your immune system how to defend itself against attack.

It’s much safer for your immune system to learn how to protect itself through a vaccine, than by catching the virus.

Once your immune system knows how to fight a virus, your body can defend itself against that virus as it is already prepared.

The vaccination does not itself cause disease.

Currently, over threequarters of deaths caused by Covid-19 infection are in the older population, so there is a focus on vaccines that are expected to generate an immune response among people over the age of 65.

Manufacturing and deployment planning of the vaccine is happening now. It’s ready to be rolled out once it has met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness, following robust clinical trials and approval by the medicines regulator (MHRA).

Although there are no certainties, it’s possible that a Covid-19 vaccine could be available in the UK in the first part of 2021.

Once approved, the NHS will start the vaccination programme with those most at risk, before rolling it out more widely.

The full impact on infection rates will only become clear once a large number of people have been vaccinated, but the more people who get the vaccine, the closer we are to getting back to a normal way of life.