Frontline health workers, over-50s and Britons with heart or kidney disease will be the first in line to get a Covid-19 vaccine, Matt Hancock revealed today amid the global scientific race to find a jab that works and save millions of lives.
The Health Secretary made the announcement in tonight’s Downing Street press conference, saying ministers would be ‘guided by the science’.
And he claimed the priority list was not set in stone, claiming as evidence becomes clearer other at-risk groups could be included.
The advice — announced by Mr Hancock but made by a government advisory body — comes after Imperial College London scientists became the second British team to begin human trials of an experimental Covid-19 vaccine this week.
And pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has already started to manufacture the other promising jab being tested in the UK, made by researchers at Oxford University.
Mr Hancock said the decision to start making the jab now — before any evidence to prove it works has been uncovered — will allow officials to ‘build up a stockpile’, if it is eventually approved.
The Health Secretary made the announcement in tonight’s Downing Street press conference, saying ministers would be ‘guided by the science’
How the vaccines from Imperial College London and Oxford University would work
Mr Hancock said: ‘Just as we did for testing, we’ll be guided by the clinical science prioritising those in most need.’
He pointed to advice issued today by government advisory body the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), who recommended that two groups receive a Covid-19 jab first.
Mr Hancock added: ‘They recommend priority vaccinations for two groups, frontline health and social care workers, and those at increased risk of serious disease or death from coronavirus, including, for example, adults over the age of 50 and those with heart and kidney disease.
‘As we learn more about the virus we’ll continue to take into account which groups may be particularly vulnerable, including, for example, those from ethnic minority backgrounds.’
The JCVI guidance said: ‘Frontline health and social care workers are at increased personal risk of exposure to infection with COVID-19 and of transmitting that infection to susceptible and vulnerable patients in health and social care settings.
‘The committee considered this group to be the highest priority for vaccination. Vaccination of frontline health and social care workers will also help to maintain resilience in the NHS and for health and social care providers.’
It added: ‘There is ongoing work within the UK to refine the identification of persons at risk of serious disease and mortality from COVID-19 infection.
‘As well as age and underlying co-morbid conditions, the committee notes that early signals have been identified of other potential risk factors, including deprivation and ethnicity.
‘As more evidence on at-risk groups emerges, this work will inform the review of the composition, and order of priority, of groups for vaccination.
Mr Hancock also discussed AstraZeneca’s decision to start mass-manufacturing the experimental AZD1222 vaccine now.
The jab — which the pharma giant’s chief executive believes will offer protection for a year — is currently being trialled on more than 10,000 people.
Mr Hancock said: ‘They’re starting manufacturing now, even ahead of approval so we can build up a stock pile and be ready should it be clinically approved.’
He said there will be sufficient supplies of the vaccine for those Brits most in need, ‘should the science come off’.
Stockpiles of the £5 steroid drug dexamethasone were built-up before health chiefs approved it for NHS use on Covid-19 patients requiring oxygen.
AstraZeneca is banking on the experimental jab working after signing multiple deals with countries around the globe to supply billions of doses of the vaccine.
The Cambridge-based firm last weekend agreed to dish out up to 400million doses in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
It has already inked deals to make 400million for the US as well as 100million for the UK, with the aim to start supplying them by October.
Oxford scientists announced this month that the vaccine was being partly trialled in Brazil because of fears the virus is dying out in the UK.
The Imperial College London vaccine — the second to be tested on humans in the UK — will work slightly differently.
The science behind both vaccine attempts hinges on recreating the ‘spike’ proteins that are found all over the outside of the COVID-19 viruses.
Both will attempt to recreate or mimic these spikes inside the body. The difference between the two is how they achieve this effect.
The Imperial jab will deliver genetic material (RNA) from the virus, which programs cells inside the patient’s body to recreate the spike proteins.
The Oxford University vaccine, on the other hand, will genetically engineer a virus to look like the coronavirus – but be unable to cause any infection.
The next part of the Imperial College London trial will involve 120 humans and will be scaled up to include 6,000 people, if it is proven to be safe.
But Professor Robin Shattock, the lead scientist, said the vaccine won’t be available until at least 2021 even if everything goes according to plan.