[ad_1]
Health Secretary Matt Hancock recently praised the news that Pfizer’s vaccine was 90 percent effective in developing an immune response to the coronavirus. Both the Oxford and Pfizer candidates are in phase three of clinical trials and are expected to be delivered to the most vulnerable groups by the end of the year. It comes as the UK has reported a total of 1,237,198 cases and 49,861 deaths as of Tuesday.
The cost of implementing the Pfizer vaccine is likely to be at least ten times higher than Oxford’s, according to a Telegraph report.
Two doses of the American and German jab cost £ 29.47 for Americans, with the UK buying 40 million doses.
While the Oxford vaccine costs £ 2.23 for one dose for EU citizens, and Britain buys 100 million.
The government has not released details on how much the Pfizer vaccine cost the UK.
READ MORE: Covid Vaccine – First Volunteers Describe Pfizer Jab Side Effects – What to Expect
In another blow to the Pfizer vaccine, recipients need two injections three weeks apart.
Dr Jonathan Stoye, group leader, Retrovirus-Host Interactions Laboratory, at the Francis Crick Institute, London, added to The Telegraph: “At least two drawbacks can be anticipated in the Pfizer vaccine, even assuming it works as well as we currently think.
“First, two injections are required for full effectiveness, spaced three to four weeks apart. Second, it should be stored at -80 degrees before use.
“Both properties will seriously complicate the administration of the vaccine.”
In the House of Commons, Hancock said the Pfizer vaccine will be ready for use in December.
The Health Secretary asked the NHS to “be ready” to distribute doses to residents of nursing homes and those over 65.
However, he added that there are “no guarantees” about the jab, saying that “we do not know” what percentage of the population will need it for life to return to normal.
Mr. Hancock then said, “The honest truth to that question is that we don’t know what proportion of the population needs to get vaccinated for this to stop the epidemic.
“The reason we do not know is that it can verify in a clinical trial the impact of the vaccine on the protection of the individual … what it cannot verify is the impact on the transmission of the disease by those people, because you have to have enough population, a significant proportion of the population, to have had the vaccine to understand that. “
Sir John Bell, a royal professor of medicine at Oxford University, also told MPs that he was “quite optimistic” about the news of the Pfizer vaccine, adding that the UK has “a 70, 80 percent chance” back to normal after Easter. .
But he warned: “That’s as long as they don’t mess up the vaccine distribution, that’s not my job. But as long as they don’t mess up that, everything will be fine.”
The UK reported another 20,412 coronavirus cases yesterday.
It also saw 532 other deaths, according to the Office for National Statistics.
[ad_2]
