UK sees Astra, Pfizer vaccine rollout starting next month

Bloomberg

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK plans to start rolling out two coronavirus vaccines next month before the program gathers pace in the new year, with a return to “normal” possible in the spring.
Hancock was responding to trial results announced on Monday by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc showing their Covid-19 vaccine prevented a majority of people from getting the disease. It followed positive results this month from a vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. Both still need to be assessed by the UK health regulator before they can be administered to the public.
“If this all goes well in the next couple of weeks, then we are looking at the potential
of starting the vaccination program next month for this Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as well as the Pfizer vaccine — but in all cases the bulk of the rollout will be in the New Year,” Hancock told BBC Radio. “We are looking with high confidence now that after Easter things can really start to get back to normal.”
The vaccine data adds to the government’s growing optimism that the UK is beginning to reverse the tide of the virus after a new wave of infections forced England into a second lockdown this month. Virus cases “are clearly starting to fall,” Hancock said, and ministers are discussing how to relax rules to allow families to get together at Christmas. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce the new winter strategy in Parliament on Monday.
Mass Testing
Johnson is also set to announce a massive increase in community coronavirus testing as part of a plan to reintroduce tiered restrictions in place of the England-wide lockdown. Areas under the strictest curbs will have access to regular tests. People who come into contact with someone with the disease will be able to avoid quarantine by taking a test every day for seven days, Johnson’s office said.
The program, which will be trialled in Liverpool, northwest England, is due to be announced by the prime minister alongside tougher restrictions for the worst-hit areas, and guidelines for family visits “for a small number of days” over the Christmas holidays.
“The increase in new cases is flattening off, but we are not out of the woods yet,” Johnson will tell lawmakers, according to his office.
“With the expansion in testing and vaccines edging closer to deployment, the regional tiered system will help get the virus back under control and keep it there.”
The prime minister is trying to balance the reopening of the economy in England — where restaurants and many shops have been closed since November 5 — with the need to slow the spread of the pandemic, which has killed more than 55,000 people in the UK, including over 3,000 in the past week.

Buying Vaccines
Vaccines will form a major part of coming out of the pandemic, and the UK’s vaccine procurement program has left it well-placed to capitalise on progress being made by the pharmaceuticals industry.
Even before the vaccines had been tested, the UK had pre-ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca one. It also has bought 5 million doses of a third vaccine being developed by Moderna Inc that’s also yielded positive results this month.