UK's most vulnerable ‘could get Covid vaccine by Christmas'

London, October 17

There is some chance that a Covid-19 vaccine “could be ready for the most vulnerable of the UK's population by Christmas”, according to the head of the country's vaccine task force.

Speaking to a BBC Scotland's programme, Chairwoman of the UK Vaccine Taskforce Kate Bingham, however, said that availability of the vaccine will not make things normal for everyone overnight.

She also said that while she was optimistic that a vaccine for Covid-19 will be found, it was "very unlikely" to be a single jab, suggesting that revaccination probably every few years might be needed, the BBC reported on Friday.

Moreover, if the virus that causes Covid-19 mutates significantly, vaccine efforts might have to start from scratch again.

According to her, when a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, everybody will not have access to it initially as the supply is expected to be limited.

Therefore the UK government and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) would have to agree on who should be vaccinated and when.

Earlier this month, Bingham told the Financial Times that those who believe that everyone in the population will be vaccinated as soon as a vaccine becomes available are nurturing a "misguided perception".

"People keep talking about 'time to vaccinate the whole population', but that is misguided," Bingham was quoted as saying.

In the race to find an effective Covid-19 vaccine, hundreds of trials are being carried out around the world, including six candidates that are being developed in Britain, said the BBC report. — IANS

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