One vaccine is on the way, and more could be: all your questions answered
News of several effective vaccines has provided some light at the end of the 2020 tunnel.
Pharmaceutical companies, Government and universities including Oxford have put their back into developing a scientific way out of the Covid-19 pandemic – allowing all of us to get back to normal, see our friends and family, and live our lives without the threat of a pandemic spike.
The Covid-19 vaccines – of which the UK has ordered enough for the whole population – have been developed in the shortest time possible, but that doesn’t mean that any of the usual steps taken to ensure their safety or effectiveness have been side-stepped.
You’ll have seen the news that one vaccine, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, has been approved for the use in the UK. It’s hoped that others will follow, once they have been through the independent regulatory process.
Why a vaccine?
‘Lockdowns’ and national restrictions have driven down the rate at which the virus spreads, but we cannot beat the virus without a vaccine that protects every individual from contracting the disease – which has killed more than 50,000 people in the UK.
This is because vaccines are carefully designed to prevent disease, rather than treat the problem once people are already infected or unwell.
After clean water, vaccination is the most effective public health intervention in the world, preventing between 2-3 million deaths globally per year. In the UK, the measles vaccine – to take one example – has prevented more than 20 million cases.
And each year, the flu jab – which this year is available for free to the over-50s, rather than the over-65s – helps to reduce pressure on our NHS by keeping people safe from this year’s strain.
What vaccines will we have?
The UK has secured access to seven different possible vaccines, across four different vaccine types, meaning that in time the whole population could have access to one after they pass through regulatory approval.
The UK Government has secured early access to over 357 million vaccines doses through agreements with separate vaccine developers, including:
- 100m doses of the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine
- 40m doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine
- 7m doses of the Moderna vaccine
All three of those vaccines have shown extremely promising results in clinical trials.
How do the vaccines work?
They work by teaching your immune system how to defend itself against attack. Once your body knows how to fight a virus, your body is in a much better position to fight back.
To create a vaccine, the virus is weakened or completely inactivated – meaning it won’t make you ill.
Your immune system can get used to the virus, and form antibodies – the frontline defence against possible harm from Covid-19.
How do we know it’s safe?
There have been lots of scare stories about vaccines, as well as conspiracy theories – all of which scientists have shown to be wrong.
All the Covid-19 vaccines in development today are following the same rigorous safety tests as the hundreds of clinical trials that take place every year.
Vaccines are only made available to the public when they have been approved by the Government’s medicines regulator, regarded as one of the best in the world, and staffed by top experts from across the country.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency – the MHRA – need to approve the vaccine for use. They do that by reviewing all the data from clinical trials, and are known for their caution and care.
It’s an independent regulator. Right through the process, teams of scientists and clinicians have been working night and day to make sure that the Covid-19 vaccines Britain could soon receive have met the necessary safety standards.
How is it being tested?
Before any vaccines get given the go-ahead, they will be trialled on people of all races, ethnic background and gender. Hundreds of thousands of people across the world and here in the UK have signed up to trials and recruitment is still ongoing.
That number includes doctors and nurses who have signed up, having seen up close the importance of developing a scientific response to the pandemic.
Knowledge from other vaccines – like the ones developed to fight SARS – has been used in developing the vaccine, and it’s informed the clinical trials.
All steps in the development process have been rigorously followed, including three phases of clinical trials.
How will we make them all?
Covid-19 is a global problem, so all the countries of the world have a role to play in defeating it.
But the UK is making sure that we’re doing our bit. The UK is the largest contributor in the world to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness – donating more than £250m to date.
But while that will help in the medium- to long-term, a £38m rapid deployment facility fund will ensure that Brits get access to the vaccine quickly.
What’s been approved so far?
The Government has now accepted the recommendation from the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for use. This follows months of rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA who have concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.
The NHS has decades of experience in delivering large scale vaccination programmes and will begin putting their extensive preparations into action to provide care and support to all those eligible for vaccination.
Who gets it?
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the UK should use and provide advice on who should be offered the vaccination first.
They advise that the vaccine first be given to care home residents and staff, followed by people over 80 and health and social workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and risk.
So there are plenty of vaccines ordered awaiting regulatory approval, and then they’ll be distributed depending on that expert advice.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will begin rolling out next week. When it’s your turn, you’ll be sent a notification.
How will we get it?
It will be free at the point of use from the NHS, once it’s approved by the regulator. And then, finally, we can move forward on the path back to normal life.