Covid: 'We may vaccinate everybody that needs it before next winter,' expert says

10 November 2020, 16:07

The UK may be able to vaccinate everybody that needs a Covid vaccine before next winter, an expert has told LBC.

Tom Soloman, who is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Liverpool, made the comment to LBC's Shelagh Fogarty in light of preliminary findings from US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer which suggest their vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told LBC's Nick Ferrari that the Government "will be ready" to roll out a new coronavirus vaccine should it become available.

Speaking to Shelagh, Professor Soloman predicted: "I think what will happen is, as the months go on, similar results will come through for more and more vaccines

"Of course, the UK Government has already pledged to buy and committed to six vaccines on the presumption that some of them would not work.

"But I would be surprised if, in the first few months of next year, we start these vaccines rolling out more and more widely.

You could even imagine that...by the middle of next year or before next winter we may have vaccinated everybody that needs it with one vaccine or another."

A member of the Government's vaccine taskforce has said that the UK could have "two or three" coronavirus vaccines ready to be distributed in the New Year.

Professor Soloman was also keen to assure listeners that "no corners have been cut" in the development of the Pfizer vaccine.

Referring to the vaccine, he explained: "The reason it is being rushed through is because almost all biomedical science [and all medical research] has stopped to focus on all the different aspects of this virus..."