Britain expects to roll out Pfizer covid vaccine before Christmas
Last week, Pfizer said its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was over 90% effective based on initial trial results.
Britain expects to start rolling out the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine just before Christmas if it is declared safe and effective, health minister Matt Hancock said on Monday.
"We're working very closely with the company," he told BBC TV. "We'll be ready to roll it out as soon as it comes, we'll be ready from the first of December..., but more likely is that we may be able to start rolling it out before Christmas."
Asked how many vaccines Britain would need, he said it depended on how effective they were at preventing transmission.
Last week, Pfizer said its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was over 90% effective based on initial trial results.
Britain expects to have 10 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech's candidate COVID-19 vaccine available by the end of the year.
Britain has now ordered 40 million doses of the candidate vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech , enough to give protection to a third of the population.
In all, the British government has signed six supply deals for vaccine candidates, including Pfizer/BioNTech's and one developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
Fresh Covid-19 vaccine reports are also on the horizon, with drugmakers including Pfizer Inc. expected to obtain more trial data as early as this week.
More data from vaccine creator Moderna Inc. is expected in the coming days, while AstraZeneca and its partner, the University of Oxford, may also have preliminary results in the next few weeks.
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