Here's what the top UK scientist had to say about the new Covid-19 vaccine

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van Tam has hailed the development of the coronavirus vaccine as a “very important scientific breakthrough.”
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Pharmaceutical company Pfizer this morning announced it had developed a coronavirus vaccine candidate which was proven during a major trial to be more than 90 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19 in patients with no prior sign of infection.

And the deputy chief medical officer for England, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, has said he is “hopeful” the first coronavirus vaccine could be seen by Christmas.

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This comes as the UK has secured 30 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine called BNT162b2.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Jonathan Van-Tam during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19).Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Jonathan Van-Tam during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19).
Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Jonathan Van-Tam during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19).

However, Professor Van Tam said that there was more to be done before it became available and that it would be for the independent regulator to clear it for use in the UK.

“This is a very important scientific breakthrough. I am certain of that,” he said.

“I am hopeful because of all that, but not yet certain that we could begin to see some vaccine by Christmas.”

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He said age would be “by far and away” the most important factor in determining who should receive the vaccine first.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam described the vaccine announcement as a “huge milestone” and said it was good news for other future vaccines.

He said: “So this is like… getting to the end of the playoff final, it’s gone to penalties, the first player goes up and scores goal.

“You haven’t won the cup yet, but what it does is it tells you that the goalkeeper can be beaten.”

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But Prof Van-Tam said “we don’t yet know” when life can get back to normal or when coronavirus restrictions can start to be lifted.

“Frankly, we’re in the middle of the second wave, and I don’t see the vaccine making any difference for the wave we are now in,” he said.

“I’m hopeful that it may prevent future waves, but this one we have to battle through to the end without a vaccine.”

Boris Johnson said the Pfizer vaccine news was a sign the “scientific cavalry” was on its way, but stressed the need for caution.

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The Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference the vaccine had cleared a “significant hurdle” but there were more to cross before it could be used.

“I must stress that these are very, very early days,” he said during a Downing Street press conference.

Mr Johnson said he had talked about the “distant bugle of the scientific cavalry coming over the brow of the hill” with a breakthrough.

“I can tell you that tonight that toot of the bugle is louder, but it’s still some way off, we absolutely cannot rely on this news as a solution,” he said.

“The biggest mistake we could make now would be to slacken our resolve at a critical moment.”