the medical director of nhs england says
the mass vaccination program for covert
19
starting this week marks the beginning
of the end of the pandemic
but professor stephen powis warned it
would take many months to vaccinate
everybody who urgently needs protection
batches of the vaccine have started to
arrive at hospitals
around 800 000 doses are expected to be
available across the uk this coming week
with jabs starting on tuesday now
science editor david shukman reports
an unmarked van at croydon university
hospital in south london
with a delivery that could start to
change the course of the pandemic
inside these boxes the first vaccines
for covid19
ingenious research is creating light at
the end of the tunnel
this is just so exciting it's a
momentous occasion the nhs has been
planning extensively
um to deliver the largest vaccination
program in our history so it's really
exciting
the vaccines have to be stored at -70
only large hospitals can do that
so distribution is complicated and will
take time
nhs staff around the country have been
working tirelessly to make sure that we
are prepared
to commence vaccination on tuesday
this feels like the beginning of the end
but of course it's a marathon not a
sprint
and it will take many months for us to
vaccinate everybody who needs
vaccination
so far only the pfizer biontech vaccine
has been approved in the uk so it's the
one that's being used first
the rollout of this vaccine will involve
an operation on an extraordinary scale
there are something like 6.7 million
people judged to be the highest priority
residents of care homes for example and
the over 80s
so that requires 13.4 million doses
because everybody
has to have two now it's hoped that
there'll be 800
000 available in the coming week or so
with up to 5 million by the end of the
year
but however this pans out it's going to
be a huge challenge
production is slower than hoped at
pfizer's plant in belgium
after problems with raw materials
but other vaccines may come on stream
soon like the one by oxford university
and astrazeneca now awaiting approval
okay
so i need a scratch the key factor in
all of this is the readiness of the
public to get vaccinated
the medicines regulator wants to
reassure people
i would really like to emphasize that
the highest standards of scrutiny of
safety and of effectiveness and quality
have been met
international standards and so there
should be real confidence
in the rigor of our approval so we're on
the brink of the first big step out of
the crisis
but there's a long way to go david
shukman bbc news