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England’s deputy chief medical officer has said he will encourage his own mother to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, as he assured the British that safety standards will not be compromised in the face of the public health emergency.
Professor Jonathan Van Tam, speaking at a press conference in Downing Street, described how the regular phase of development and approval of a vaccine had been sped up due to the coronavirus crisis.
This has included the overlap of the three phases of clinical trials and pharmaceutical companies that start manufacturing before final approval is given, leaving them exposed to the risk that their work will have to be scrapped.
However, Professor Van Tam stressed that “the standards are not lower just because it is a public health emergency.”
Dr June Raine, Executive Director of the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), also promised that a COVID-19 the vaccine “will only be approved after it has met strong standards of efficacy, safety and quality.”
American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its vaccine partner BioNTech released initial results this week suggesting their jab was 90% effective. in protecting people from COVID-19.
Dr. Raine said the MHRA had begun its work on evaluating the Pfizer vaccine, but had not yet received the full data from the clinical trial.
“We are clearly in a state of readiness to begin our rigorous safety and effectiveness reviews the minute it arrives,” he added.
When asked if he would be prepared to be among the first to be vaccinated, Professor Van Tam said: “If I could, rightly and morally, be at the front of the queue, then I would.
“Because I absolutely trust the MHRA’s judgment on safety and efficacy.
“But that is clearly not correct: we have to target the highest risk people in society and that is how it should be.”
“If I could be at the head of the queue, I would be.
“But let me tell you this, I think the ‘mom test’ is very important here.
“My mother is 78 years old, she will be 79 shortly, and I already told her mother, make sure that when they call you, you are ready, prepare to address this, this is very important for you because of your age.”
Nursing homes, NHS and social care staff, and then older people, will be prioritized for vaccination.
And Professor Van Tam said people shouldn’t be able to skip the line by privately paying for a vaccine.
“One of the things I like about the NHS is that it is available to everyone, regardless of their level of wealth or who they are in society,” he said.
“That is a really important principle for me personally.”
Professor Van Tam added that deciding such an issue would be “a ministerial decision,” but added: “I am giving you my opinion as a doctor that I believe these vaccines should be prioritized for those who need them, not for those who can afford it. private “.
He admitted that launching a coronavirus vaccine would be a “gigantic challenge” for the NHS, but said he had been reassured by questions about refrigeration capacity, transportation systems and the supply of needles and syringes.
Professor Van Tam also offered to deliver the vaccines himself in the evenings and on weekends.
But he couldn’t say if lives would return to normal at Easter due to the development of a vaccine.
“We still don’t know if this vaccine is going to prevent transmission in addition to preventing disease, and from that perspective it would be wrong of me to give you the feeling that whoever told you we would be completely back to normal by Easter is right,” said the deputy chief medical officer.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, said the second stage of the vaccination program could prioritize those who could suffer long-lasting effects from the coronavirus or who transmit the disease.
“In phase two of the program, we are likely to prioritize people who may suffer due to the need for hospitalization due to COVID or perhaps due to prolonged COVID,” he said.
“The reason it has not been decided is because we must also balance the possible prioritization of people who transmit COVID.”
