The JCVI has made a priority list of those who are to vaccine immediately.
After months of hoping the Covid pandemic over, the world finally can enjoy a slight glimmer of hope. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its partner BioNTech on Monday announced preliminary results from their global vaccine trials.
The vaccine was found to be 90 percent effective in protecting people from the transmission of the virus.
Until now, it killed 1.25 million around the world. Matt Hancock said he had asked the NHS to “be ready” to roll out doses of the vaccine “from the start of next December”.
A mRNA vaccine
The vaccine was made by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, working with German biotech company BioNTech.
The vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.
Pfizer plans to apply to the US regulator the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency approval. In this way the vaccine will be ready by the end of the month.
While conventional vaccines are produced using weakened forms of the virus, this one is a mRNA type. Since mRNAs use only the virus’s genetic code, this means no actual virus is needed to create an mRNA vaccine. As a consequence the production rate can be dramatically accelerated.
The JCVI Covid vaccine priority list
For a fair distribution , the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has examined data. The results show who suffers the worst outcomes from the virus and who is at the highest risk of death.
Here are the lists:
- Older adults in a care home and care home workers
- All those aged 80 and over and health and social care workers, though they may move up the list
- Anyone 75 and over
- People aged 70 and over
- All those aged 65 and over
- High-risk adults under 65
- Moderate-risk adults under 65
- All those aged 60 and over
- All those 55 and over
- All those aged 50 and over
- The rest of the population, with priority yet to be determined.
Due to the fast finalizing, people concerns are about the vaccine safety. What they need to know is that all vaccines undergo rigorous testing. Moreover, experienced regulators supervise them. Those who get the Pfizer vaccines need two doses. There are 200 Covid-19 vaccine candidates from around the world. About 12 of them are in the final stages of testing.
The vaccine in the UK
In the UK, a rollout vaccine will work together with the clinics. Leading doctors suggested that Covid vaccine clinics could run from 8 am to 8 pm seven days a week. GPs in England have been informed on how to prepare for a vaccine rollout. They need to prepare to give patients two vaccine doses. They are to be delivered between 21 and 28 days apart.
Due to the logistics and delivery requirements, it’s likely that groups of GP practices will need to work together with one “designated vaccination site”, BMA said. “Working together, practices will need to be prepared to offer vaccinations seven days a week so that the vaccine is delivered within its short shelf-life and so patients receive it as soon as possible,” it added.
