are questions about the speed at which
scientists have been able
to produce the vaccine and further
questions about the precise timetable
for vaccinating millions of people
here's our health correspondent
catherine burns there's no such thing as
a vaccine that is a hundred percent
effective for every single person
researchers trying to find a vaccine for
coronavirus was set a target
to make it at least 50 percent effective
this oxford vaccine averages out at
about 70 percent
so it's done that and then some so how
does it stack up against
other vaccines well there's a range flu
tends to be about 40 to
60 percent effective at the other end of
the scale chickenpox is about
98 effective for children the important
thing to remember is that this vaccine
has been shown
to be highly effective some people are
asking how can scientists be so
confident in a vaccine they've come up
with in less than a year
a lot of it comes down to cash there's
been a
huge global effort with massive amounts
of money
but also brain power these vaccines that
we're seeing now have been through
all the usual processes just streamlined
and remember this isn't from a standing
start we're dealing with a coronavirus
scientists have been studying them for
years and knew
what the possible weak spots could be
more than 10 000 people have had this
vaccine so far
none has had any serious issues there
are the kind of side effects you might
expect after a vaccine
a sore arm maybe a headache temperature
or feeling a bit fluid for a few days
the team behind this point out that
normally vaccines that are regulated in
europe
might have safety data on three to five
thousand people
and they have thousands more than that
and have been following them for months
so far we've had a few teams of
scientists assessing how effective their
vaccines are
in other words how good are they at
stopping people from getting
sick with coronavirus what we don't know
yet
is how long they'll offer that
protection for another unknown is
how good they'll be at stopping the
virus spreading for example
if someone is infected doesn't have any
symptoms
but could still pass it on to other
people there are some
early positive signs on this from the
oxford trial though
if you want to pick which vaccine you'll
be given the short answer is no
the slightly longer answer is that the
uk government has ordered a hundred
million doses of the oxford vaccine more
than any other so it's most likely
you'd get this one the next question is
when
well first of all it's got to be
approved by the regulator
and once that happens there are about
four million doses
ready to be shipped out so we could see
some of them before christmas
realistically those first doses are
going to go to the most vulnerable
probably people in care homes over 80
and health workers
after that it will get rolled out across
the rest of the winter and spring
and that was my colleague catherine
burns a health correspondent answering
just some of the questions
that you've been sending in during the
course of the day