there's been a concerted effort today by
government and by scientific advisors
to reassure people about the efficacy of
the vaccines being used
in the uk it follows growing concern
about the performance of the oxford
astrazeneca vaccine
specifically in the context of the south
african variant of the virus
boris johnson said he was very confident
that the current vaccines
delivered a high degree of protection
against serious
illness and professor jonathan van tam
who's england's deputy chief medical
officer
said it was unlikely in his view that
the south african variant
would become dominant here in the short
term
now tonight in england people age 70 or
older who haven't yet been called for
their vaccination
are being asked to contact the nhs to
book an appointment
our medical editor fergus walsh has the
latest
there is huge public enthusiasm for
covet immunization
ellen road home of leeds united football
club
is now a mass vaccination hub
joshua is 25 and has very severe asthma
he's been shielding at home and has only
come out to have his jab
it was like being locked up in a way it
was like being kept in a cage
and and then having this is like getting
the key to get out
margaret's husband has been in intensive
care with covid for nearly a month
i just wish this would come earlier so
my husband could have had it
visiting a covid testing kit supplier in
derby
the prime minister said vaccines are the
way out of the pandemic
for all of us we're very confident in
all the vaccines that we're
using and i think it's important for
people to
to bear in mind that all of them
we think are effective in delivering a
high degree of protection
against uh serious illness and and death
that was in response to a small study in
south africa which suggested the oxford
astrazeneca vaccine
offered only limited protection against
mild to moderate infection
from the main variant there 147 cases
of the south african variant have been
detected in the uk
and people in several areas like
worcester are being tested
in a bid to prevent it spreading further
do you think it will be possible to
keep the south african variant largely
suppressed
in the uk the early modelling data do
not suggest
a transmissibility advantage
for this virus and because of that
there is no reason to think the south
african variant
will catch up or overtake our current
virus
in the next few months and that's good
news because vaccines are highly
effective
at protecting against the kent variant
which is dominant here
my advice to you is very simple do not
delay
have the vaccine that will protect you
against the current threat
and don't worry you can be re-vaccinated
anyone over 70 in england who's not yet
had their vaccine is being asked to
contact the nhs
online or by calling 119 as the uk looks
well on track to have given around 15
million people in the highest risk
groups their first dose
by the middle of february ferguson bbc
news
as we've been reporting new vaccines are
already in development
to protect against the new south african
variant of coronavirus
the next phase of the pandemic could
increasingly become
a game of catch-up as more new variants
emerge
and new vaccines are developed to tackle
them
our science editor david shukman
considers what might lie ahead
around the world there's now a race
between the virus and the vaccines
between the threat of new variants and
efforts to stay ahead of them
and the outcome matters to us all while
a first wave of countries
including the uk should see the majority
of their populations
vaccinated this year others won't reach
that stage till next year
and many will have to wait for the year
after or even longer
this is a global virus it's a global
pandemic until we're all protected
then then it could be that a variant in
another country
mutates so that the current vaccines are
no longer
effective and that will come back so
even those people who are vaccinated
they are still going to be at risk of
these future future variants
the virus is changing all the time and
when it infects human cells
it takes over and gets them to make
millions of copies
but they won't all be the same each
batch may have
some random genetic mistakes mutations
that are usually
unimportant but a few might prove
dangerous
so the first task is to track these
changes and that's done by studying the
genetic code of the virus
since december 2019 when it was first
confirmed in wuhan
scientists have monitored what's
effectively a family tree with
hundreds of different branches each of
these lines
represents one of the many different
variants that's emerged over the course
of the past
year and it's only by doing this genetic
research
that we can spot the variants that are
worrying in the uk
brazil and south africa half a million
british coronavirus samples
have gone through genetic screening so
far these machines are among those that
have done most of the analysis
but few countries can work on this
almost industrial scale
so there's a lot we don't know about how
the virus is changing worldwide
there are thousands of millions of cases
globally there are undoubtedly
other variants of covid that are
spreading quickly but we're just blind
to and any one of those
additional strains around the world
could confer an advantage for the virus
allow it
to re-infect people even though they've
been vaccinated and that's what we want
to protect against
one answer is to have a global screening
operation
in west africa five years ago mobile
labs
studied the ebola virus something far
larger is needed now
and alongside that the faster the
vaccines can be rolled out
and adapted as new variants emerge
the safer we'll all be david shookman
bbc news
time to look at the latest government
figures now then they showed there were
14
104 new infections recorded in the
latest 24-hour period
that means an average of 17 714 new
cases per day
in the past week across the uk 29
326 people are in hospital right now
with coronavirus
another 333 deaths were reported
thus people who died within 28 days of a
positive covid
test on average in the past week 891
deaths were announced
every day and the total number of uk
deaths
is now a hundred and twelve thousand
seven hundred
and ninety eight uh let me give you the
latest on the vaccination program
two hundred and seventy eight thousand
988 people
had a first dose of one of the three
approved vaccines
in the latest 24-hour period and that
takes the overall number of people
who've had their first job
to 12 million 294 thousand
and six with that let's bring in our
medical editor
fergus walsh and i suppose fergus i'd
ask you to comment
on that remarkable figure of over 12
million yeah the take-up
of the covid vaccine here is
extraordinarily hue
91 of those over 80 have had their first
dose
95 of those aged 75 to 79 have had one
now that's way above what was expected
and whenever i talk to people at
immunization centers there is a genuine
sense of optimism
and relief that they're getting
immunized
the pfizer and the astrazeneca vaccines
are both highly effective
against the dominant kent variant here
so that's why it's vital people
continue to come forward we should soon
see
an impact in terms of reduction in
hospital numbers and deaths
from the vaccination program and the
longer term goal
is to offer a first dose to all those
over 50 and with underlying health
conditions
32 million people by may now there's
news tonight
of another new variant of concern in
manchester with extra
surge testing there but we're going to
have to get used to that
new variants will emerge all the time
but the vaccines
can be fairly easily tweaked and a bit
like flu we may need a booster perhaps
this autumn maybe later fergus good to
talk to you thank you very much
fergus walsh though with the latest
analysis our medical editor