COVID-19 'will be defeated by the spring' following vaccine rollout, government says

Watch: COVID ‘will be defeated by spring’

With the COVID-19 vaccine being rolled out across the UK from next week, a government minister has predicted that the disease will be defeated by spring next year.

The UK became the first country in the world to give the go-ahead to the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech on Wednesday, paving the way for vaccinations in a matter of days at over 50 hospitals.

At a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, Boris Johnson warned against over-optimism but said it was now “sure and certain” that life could start returning to normal in 2021.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson on Thursday morning went one step further, telling Sky News: “I'm confident that with the rollout of the vaccine especially targeting those vulnerable people we'll be in a position where we will defeat this virus and we will have defeated the virus by the spring, yes.”

Asked if he is confident the whole nation will have had two vaccinations by the spring, he added: “It’s over the coming months we’re going to see the rollout. Further plans will be outlined.

“It would be wrong of me to pre-empt that announcement of all those plans and the announcement of regulatory approval for other vaccines until that’s been firstly got through the regulatory approval stage and those plans have been outlined to the House of Commons.”

However, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said it was too early to say when the vaccine will enable coronavirus restrictions to be eased.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Thursday morning, he said: “If we can get to the point where the NHS is managing in a much more normal way than at present, then that gives politicians the option to think about what can be done next to make life more normal for us.

“It’s not my job to give you a magic number here or a magic calendar date because so much depends on how quickly the vaccine programme is rolled out, whether the people called forwards for the vaccine accept it.”

On Wednesday, Johnson acknowledged the “immense logistical challenges” of the rollout, adding: “It will inevitably take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected – long, cold months.

“So it’s all the more vital that as we celebrate this scientific achievement we are not carried away with over-optimism or fall into the naive belief that the struggle is over.”

Johnson said that the approval of the vaccine will make “absolutely no difference” to the tough tiered restrictions which came into force in England on Wednesday, warning that it would be months before social distancing measures could be relaxed.

Asked whether he expected the measures to be rolled over beyond their current expiry at the end of 2 February, he said: “We will judge the situation… on the basis of the data.

“But I think, for the time being, you have got to take it that tiering is going to be a very, very important part of our campaign against coronavirus.

Watch: Public should take vaccine ‘if they want life back to normal’

“It’s absolutely vital that people stick to the guidance and follow the rules.”

The prime minister said that “for now” the vaccine “makes absolutely no difference”.

“We have got to focus on keeping the virus under control, getting it down – tough tiering, mass community testing,” he said.

But after “weeks, months of work” widespread testing and the vaccine would begin to play a role.

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, added that it would take until March or April for the entire at-risk population to be vaccinated.

The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people with two doses, given 21 days apart.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said 800,000 doses of the jab would arrive next week, with millions more following in the coming weeks.

Watch: How England's new three-tier COVID system will work