the breaking news the first coronavirus
vaccine has been approved for use in the
uk
by the medicines and healthcare products
regulatory agency that's the mrha
um as promised let's speak now to the
health secretary
uh matt hancock who joins us live on
breakfast um
a significant smile on your face this
morning mr hancock
talk us through this news and and what
it means to the people in the uk this
morning
well 2020 has been such a terrible year
hasn't it and
help is on its way and this this news
for so long we've been saying that if a
vaccine is developed
then things will get better in 2021 and
now we can say
when this vaccine is rolled out things
will get better
and we'll start that process next week
so i'm
obviously absolutely thrilled with the
news i'm very proud that the uk is the
first place in the world to have a
clinically authorized
vaccine ready to go the
huge thanks to the scientists to pfizer
the
the company uh obviously to my team and
and kate bingham and alex sharma the
business secretary who's done a huge
amount of work on this but
what it means for people is that from
next week
we'll be able to start rolling this out
we'll start
with those who are most vulnerable to
coronavirus
and it will you need two jabs so
21 days apart so and after that
we will start protecting people as this
the protection comes with these
these these two uh jabs
and it will help save lives
and then once we've started to
uh and protected the most vulnerable it
will help us all get back to normal
and and uh and back to all the things
that we love
can we go through some of the numbers if
possible because i'm sure that's what
our viewers will be thinking this
morning okay how many
when does it arrive so yeah that's an
initial order of of 10 million which is
enough to vaccinate 5 million people
do we know how many of those will be
arriving next week
well next week there'll be 800 000 so
it's the first
start we'll then deploy it at the speed
that it's manufactured
and the manufacturing of course is being
done by
uh pfizer uh in belgium
and the so that will determine the speed
at which we can roll it out
as we've said all along we've always
said even if we get something
before christmas we will have the bulk
of the rollout in the new year
and that's what will happen in this case
as you said earlier in the program we
have 40 million doses
on order of this vaccine the other early
vaccine the astrazeneca
vaccine is currently being assessed by
the mhra
so the um the goal will be
to vaccinate uh through the nhs
right across the uk as
rapidly as the as the company can
manufacture
okay i know we've got you for about
another 10 minutes and there are so many
questions which i'm sure
we're going to try and get as much
information out of you as possible as we
can can i start with that 800 000 that
you say will arrive next week
who will be on the list to get those
that first batch if you like
well the the the joint committee on
vaccinations and immunizations long
title but
they're the clinical advisors who advise
on that prioritization
so it's according to clinical need the
goal is to
save as many lives as possible and stop
hospitalizations
and so it will start with the most
elderly and with people in
care homes and of course their carers
to make sure that that others don't
catch it
and then essentially it comes down the
age range
nhs staff are also high on that priority
list
and also the clinically extremely
vulnerable who we've supported
throughout this crisis those who are
particularly vulnerable to to
coronavirus
the details of that will be set out
mid-morning by the
jcvi and the regulators will also be
setting out the details
of the of the clinical trials and why
they
uh felt able to approve this
vaccine so that will happen later this
morning and the full prioritization will
be set out
and then the vaccine will be rolled out
from next week
okay so 800 000 next week is it your
understanding mr hancock that
that all 10 million of those which are
going to be manufactured in belgium as
you said
will arrive before christmas or is it
going to be a longer process than that
no the timing will deter be determined
by
uh how rapidly they could be
manufactured uh so it
the uh so the numbers but we haven't put
a figure on the numbers
uh before christmas um but what we do
know
is that we can get started next week
with that first uh
that first load and then several
millions will be coming
throughout december um and
people will get a get be contacted by
the nhs
when it's when it's their turn and i
urge you very strongly to come forward
because obviously
being vaccinated is is good for you it's
approved
as clinically safe by the regulator
and it's good for your community as well
to help keep the
the get this virus finally uh under
control once and for all
we spoke to you i think a couple of
weeks ago on the on the day that this
was all announced and we talked then
about the huge
logistical task that is going to be set
before you know not just this country
but countries all over the world as we
try and
um vaccinate can you give our viewers an
idea this morning
how exactly it will work we know don't
we it needs to be stored at about
-70 so where will this be taking place
are we looking at
specific areas like maybe those
nightingale hospitals that will be used
is it going to be gp surgeries how will
it work yeah so
the the three modes of delivery for this
vaccine right across the uk and this
morning i spoke to my devolve colleagues
because the nhs of course is devolved in
wales and scotland and northern ireland
we're doing this on a
on a uk basis right across the uh
the the entire uk at the same time
and there's three modes of delivery the
first is hospitals themselves
and of course most hospitals have the
facilities to store something at -70
and they're used to dealing with
vaccines and drugs that
have these characteristics the second
is that we will set up vaccination
centers
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big centers a bit like the nightingales
project and including some of the
some of the nightingales and we'll set
them up
across the country and then the third is
a community model
using with the support of gps and
pharmacists
and others to be able to get out
uh to people where they are now because
of the minor 70 conditions of this
vaccine that third model is
harder because obviously you have to go
to places that have got the facilities
that can
that can safely store the vaccine whilst
it's waiting to be
injected um but and that is
you know the astrazenec vaccine which
doesn't have the minor 70 requirement
is better suited to that community model
but nevertheless we'll be
using the these three models hospitals
the vaccination centers
and the community rollout and uh
in order to reach people all guided by
that clinical priority
and the prioritization that will be set
out later today you mentioned a couple
of those other vaccines i i think it'd
be really helpful
can you give us any idea of the the time
scale for those we know that
uh moderna which i believe um the uk has
ordered up to
seven million doses of that um that that
went
forward for uh regulation at the day
after pfizer so
are we to anticipate maybe news on that
in the next few days and
and what about the astrazeneca oxford um
university
uh vaccine where are we on the time
scale of that if you can mr hancock
so the moderna vaccine is
only being manufactured for delivery in
april so that's still some time off as
you say we have seven million
uh of that on order but that's for april
the other early vaccine is the
oxford university astrazeneca vaccine
and that's currently with the mhra
who are assessing the detailed data from
those
clinical trials in the same way that
they've just assessed and
authorized the the pfizer vaccine now
the
the astrazeneca oxford vaccine has
a number of advantages which is that it
is it doesn't require the minus 70
storage conditions
um and we've got a hundred million of
that on order
and so the timing of when we might hear
on that
is entirely in the hands of the
regulator i rightly can't
affect that and i don't know the timing
because they have to
take all the time that they need i mean
they're moving they've been
they've been absolutely brilliant
through this and we should pay tribute
to the
regulators not often regulators get a
shout out for doing
great work but they've got with they
have to
take the time that they need to assess
whether they can
authorize that vaccine in the same way
that they've taken the time
to be able to authorize this fiser
beyond tech vaccine this morning