Matt Hancock says UK 'likely to have coronavirus vaccine by early next year'

Matt Hancock today dramatically raised hopes of a Covid-19 vaccine in the new year.

The Health Secretary said it was “looking up” that the vaccine being developed by experts at the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca would be granted approval for use soon after trials in several countries, including the UK, US and Brazil.

The manufacturing of doses was already starting, he added, so that it could be “rolled out” across the country when given the all-clear.

Asked about Australia saying it may get its first batches of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in January or February, Mr Hancock told LBC radio: “We are ahead of them ... We have got 30 million doses already contracted for with AstraZeneca.

“In fact they are starting to manufacture those doses already ... ahead of approval so that should approval come through and it’s still not certain but it’s looking up ... then we are ready to roll out.

“The best case scenario is that that happens this year ... more likely is the early part of next year ... in the first few months of next year is the most likely.

“But we have also bought vaccine ahead of it getting approved from a whole different series of international vaccines as well.”

A vaccine would be a game-changer in combating coronavirus, giving vital protection particularly to the elderly and other vulnerable people, though it could take many months to roll out across the population.

Britain may also be facing difficult months this autumn and winter because Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations are expected to rise, though doctors have significantly improved care, raising hopes that the death rate will be far lower.

Scientists announced in July that phase two of the Oxford vaccine trials showed that it induced strong antibody and T cell immune responses for up to day 56 of the ongoing analysis.

No serious adverse events from the vaccine were reported and the vaccine has gone out to further trials in the wider population.

Today’s flurry of excitement about a vaccine being ready soon was sparked early this morning by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison who said his country expects that it may receive its first batches of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in January or February.

He said his government had struck a deal with CSL Ltd to manufacture two vaccines — one developed in CSL’s own labs with the University of Queensland and the other by AstraZeneca and Oxford.

“Australia needs some hope,” Mr Morrison said in Canberra. “Today we take another significant step to protect the health of Australians against the coronavirus pandemic.”

Australian health minister Greg Hunt said scientists leading the development of both vaccines have advised that recent evidence suggests both will offer “multi-year protection”.

Mr Morrison said CSL is expected to deliver 3.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

An AstraZeneca spokesman said: “We have final stage trials in the UK, US and Brazil as well as a Phase I/II trial in South Africa and planned studies in Japan and Russia.

“These trials will determine if the vaccine will protect against Covid-19 and measure safety and immune responses in up to 50,000 participants globally across a broad age range and diverse racial, ethnic and geographic groups.

“It is then up to the regulatory bodies to review and make approval decisions based on the data, as quickly as possible.”

If a vaccine is available in the new year, it would have been developed in record speed, with trials and the regulatory approval process being fast-tracked. However, governments will also face the challenge of persuading millions of people to have the jabs.

A number of potential vaccines are under development.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in August that a locally developed vaccine for coronavirus had received regulatory approval after less than two months of testing on people. He said that the vaccine had met all the required checks, adding that his daughter had already been given it.

However, scientists in the West have warned that the Russian trials involved a small number of people.

Mr Hancock was asked about people getting back into theatres to go to pantomimes. The Health Secretary told LBC: “That is the hope that we hold out for the nation, that we can get things going even if there isn’t a vaccine, that we can use mass testing so people can check whether they have the virus today, if they don’t then they can go and do things, even if it means being in close confinement.

“We need to use the next design of tests which don’t require you to send the swab off to the lab and get the result back.

“There’s a new technology that we’re backing to get a test where you can have the turn around essentially on the spot and so you can imagine being able to go to something like the theatre, or a sports event, or to work, and you have the test, you get the result back and then they can go into the theatre.

“That is what we’re working on, that is the hope, and I also hope that will allow us to have a merry Christmas.”

Mr Hancock said, however, that the daily rise in cases reported yesterday of nearly 3,000 was “concerning”. Up to 300 people who attended a charity football match in County Durham have been asked to self-isolate after 28 people at the event tested positive.

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