Oxford vaccine approval: how quickly will people get it?

One of the biggest benefits of this vaccine is that it does not need to be stored at very cold temperatures, like the Pfizer jab - which would make "an enormous difference" according to one expert.

Andrew Hayward, professor of infectious diseases epidemiology at University College London, and a member of the Government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said: "It means that all of the centres that would normally get involved in vaccination, all the GP practices, as well as more simple community centres, for example, can get involved in the vaccine.

“It means we can take the vaccine to where it’s needed, rather than bringing people in to the limited places where we can deliver it."

He told BBC Breakfast it was "a game-changer" and "exactly what we need right now."

“I think essentially what this has turned this into is a race between us and the virus, and we need to slow the virus down as much as we can whilst we get as many people vaccinated as possible," he added.

Now that the AstraZeneca/Oxford University #COVID19 #vaccine has been approved, we're working with the NHS in England, Scotland & NI to distribute it across the UK.

We're using systems specially adapted from those used successfully for the national immunisation programmes. pic.twitter.com/lxFfvKWEYy

— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) December 30, 2020

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Times Radio that there were 100 million doses coming "so everybody can get vaccinated", with the second dose only needed after 12 weeks.

Professor Daniel Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said it was now "realistic" that good population coverage could be managed by spring or early summer.

He said: “It couldn’t be more timely and desperately needed. At a time when we see the pandemic accelerating beyond our control, a rapid, efficient vaccination programme with good population coverage is our only way out.”

Prof Altmann said the imminent vaccine rollout means “it starts to look realistic that this could be achievable by the spring or early summer”.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial, told BBC’s Radio Radio 4 Today programme: “This really is a great moment in what’s been a difficult year, and definitely a moment here at Oxford, at the university, of pride in our team for this astonishing achievement in science and clinical research during the course of the year.”

Prof Pollard said it should be “entirely possible” to tweak vaccines should that be necessary to deal with new variants of the virus, but added that there is no evidence so far that the vaccines will not work against a new variant.