Sheffield doctor explains how Covid vaccine was developed so quickly – and why it is safe

Seeking to quell fears of those who have believed rumours circulating on social media about the vaccine being developed ‘too quickly’ to be safe, doctors have publicly refuted the claims.

Dr Lisa Philip, GP and elected member of the CCG’s Governing Body said: “The Covid vaccines were made available so quickly because of all the support and funding that the vaccination programme received.

“All of the usual steps that go into approving the vaccine were followed, such as the test, the clinical trial, no steps have been missed out.

“The timeline was accelerated significantly because of the efforts of all the parties involved, and that was all done without compromising safety, quality or effectiveness.

“The NHS can’t offer any vaccine to the public unless the experts sign of on it and say it is safe to do so.”

Last week, Sheffield’s director of public health Greg Fell also sought to quash any rumours about the vaccine being unsafe, and answered many of the public’s concerns about effects of the jab.

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Mr Fell said: “[To say] they’ve been developed so fast they can’t be safe is factually wrong. All Covid vaccines have undergone rigorous testing. The speed with which the vaccine was developed was largely to do with cutting red tape rather than cutting corners.

"Increases in funding which was made available immediately; improvements in technology; many thousands of volunteers were willing to be tested and part of the trial – all of those things contributed to a speedy vaccine development in a way that we’ve never seen before. It was a global effort that allowed scientists to work together at record speed and complete year’s worth of work in a matter of months.

"Think of it like this: the vaccines went business class. The went through the same security tests as economy class, but without the queues."

Over 70s are now being encouraged to get int ouch with the NHS to arrange their jabs if they have not already received one.