The UK has ordered enough doses of the two-shot Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to immunize 20 million. (Archive)
Now that Britain has become the first Western country to approve a Covid-19 shot, the spotlight is on the high-risk launch. Vaccinating the nation’s roughly 67 million people will not happen overnight. The UK has ordered enough doses of the two-shot Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to immunize 20 million people.
Who will get the vaccine first?
The government plans to prioritize as it begins rolling out the vaccine, starting with residents and staff in nursing homes, then moving on to people over the age of 80 and healthcare workers, documents show.
Britain will immunize people in the general population below, based on age and risk. The injection is expected to be available starting next week.
Here are the government’s preliminary priority rankings:
- Residents of residences and their carers
- All those aged 80 and over, and front-line health and social care workers
- All those 75 years or more
- All those 70 and over. Clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
- All those over 65
- All 16-64 year olds with underlying health problems.
- All those 60 years and more
- All those 55 and over
- All those 50 years and more
How will people in the UK know when they can get vaccinated?
People will be contacted directly when it is their turn to get vaccinated, according to the Department of Health and Social Care. Until then, they should wait.
Where will people get it?
In the UK, 50 hospitals are ready to administer the vaccine, followed by doctors and pharmacists, assuming they have the necessary facilities to store the doses, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News on Wednesday.
The country has moved to expand the pool of people who can hit other health professionals beyond the National Health Service.
“This is no different from any other vaccine,” Sean Marett, who handles the distribution of BioNTech, said in a briefing. “You go to your center, you roll up your sleeve and receive a vaccine in your arm.”
Where is the vaccine at this time?
The vaccine is still at Pfizer’s production site in Puurs, Belgium. The doses will be shipped to the UK by truck or plane and will be available there next week, according to BioNTech executives.
Can UK residents have more than one chance?
Not for now. The UK only approved the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech, although a product using similar technology from Moderna Inc. may also be approved soon.
It may be possible to mix injections when other vaccines are approved. That should work for injections that target the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, according to Andrew Pollard, who leads the University of Oxford’s vaccine trial with AstraZeneca Plc. All three pioneers use the peak protein as a target, as do many others in clinical trials.
How does the approved vaccine compare to others?
The product is based on a technology called messenger RNA, which has never before been used to make approved vaccines. Also Modern. Both were shown to be more than 90% effective in clinical trials. The approach is designed to transform the body’s own cells in vaccine manufacturing factories.
The main difference is that the Pfizer-BioNTech product must be stored ultra cold for up to a few days before use. Moderna’s vaccine is stable at refrigerator temperature for 30 days. The Astra-Oxford jab can be kept at refrigerator temperature.
BioNTech has been studying the vaccine’s ability to withstand lower temperatures. In theory, all messenger RNA vaccines should have similar storage requirements, the company said. The vials can be transported at refrigerator temperature for up to six hours, according to Marrett.
How do we know that the product is safe?
Pfizer and BioNTech tested the vaccine in a clinical trial involving nearly 44,000 people with no serious side effects. The most common symptoms were fatigue and headaches.
The UK regulator, the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency, said on Wednesday that the vaccine “met its strict standards for safety, quality and efficacy.” Hancock described the review as “rigorous”, not rushed.
Monitoring safety will be one of the biggest challenges once vaccines are widely deployed, Emer Cooke, the new director of the European Medicines Agency, said in an interview last month.
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