The roll out of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has begun in the UK – here is everything we know so far
Tens of millions of people will be vaccinated by the spring as the Government rapidly scales up its Covid-19 vaccination delivery plan.
The Department for Health and Social Care announced there will be capacity to deliver at least two million vaccinations in England per week by the end of January, with over 2,700 vaccination sites opened across the UK.
On Jan 16, the number of those who have received a dose of the Covid-19 vaccination surpassed the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK. NHS England had announced that over 3.5 million people had received their first dose, while the number of confirmed coronavirus cases currently sits at 3.3 million cases.
In a further bid to accelerate vaccination, Boris Johnson has announced that 24-hour vaccine centres will be opened “as soon as we can”.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is currently being administered in the UK, after the first jab was given on Jan 4.
Brian Pinker, 82, was the first person to be vaccinated with the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s Churchill Hospital
On Jan 4, the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, described the roll out of the vaccine as a “vital step” in the fight against coronavirus, following a dramatic rise in the number of cases in the UK following news of a new strain.
Boris Johnson has pledged that the NHS is committed to offering a vaccination to everyone in the top four priority groups by Feb 15, promising that people will soon be within 10 miles of their nearest vaccination centre.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said in December: “The Government has today accepted the recommendation from MHRA to authorise Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for use.
“This follows rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA, which has concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.”
Trial participants were given different dosing regimens – some received two full doses and some half a dose followed by a full dose. The MHRA has since approved the use of two full doses, which was found to be 62 per cent effective.
Prior to approval in the UK, the Oxford team reported levels of 90 per cent efficiency in participants who had received a half dose followed by a full dose of the vaccine. However, Professor Munir Pirmohamed, chair of the MHRA, said the 90 per cent efficacy rate did not hold up under analysis and that other factors may have lead to this result.
Following the approval of the Moderna vaccine on Jan 8, there are now three vaccines available for use in the UK.
Matt Hancock said on Jan 11 that the UK has “protected more people through vaccinations than all the other countries in Europe put together”, with 2.4 million people receiving their first vaccine as of Jan 12.
Mr Hancock has insisted that the Government is on course to reach its target and also pledged that every adult in Britain will have been offered a coronavirus vaccination by the autumn, in the UK’s biggest ever inoculation campaign.
He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Jan 10: “The rate limiting factor at the moment is supply but that’s increasing. I’m very glad to say that at the moment we’re running at over 200,000 people being vaccinated every day.”
However, some GP surgeries are being told to “pause” vaccinations in order to allow those in other areas to catch up, The Telegraph can report.
Some surgeries have stated that they are ready to begin vaccinating those in the over-70s group, but have been denied the supplies to do so by local NHS leaders.
This news comes as manufacturing companies have said that they are able to produce enough vaccines, should a 24/7 roll out be introduced in the UK.
The NHS have also announced that high street pharmacies in England will be able to distribute coronavirus vaccines from Jan 14.
The Queen and Prince Phillip have been vaccinated, Buckingham Palace announced on Jan 9.
How does the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine work?
The vaccine – called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 – uses a harmless, weakened version of a common virus which causes colds in chimpanzees.
Researchers have already used this technology to produce vaccines against a number of pathogens including flu, Zika and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers).
The virus is genetically modified so it is impossible for it to grow in humans.
Scientists have transferred the genetic instructions for coronavirus’s specific ‘spike protein’ – which it needs to invade cells – to the vaccine.
When the vaccine enters cells inside the body, it uses this genetic code to produce the surface spike protein of the coronavirus.
This induces an immune response, priming the immune system to attack coronavirus if it infects the body.
How effective is it?
AstraZeneca – a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company with its headquarters in Cambridge – and Oxford University announced that their jab was effective in preventing many people getting ill and it has been shown to work in different age groups, including the elderly.
Partial immunity against Sars-Cov-2 is then detected approximately 22 days after administration of the first dose, the MHRA reported.
Data published in The Lancet in early December showed the vaccine was 62 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19 among a group of 4,440 people given two standard doses of the vaccine, when compared with 4,455 people given a placebo drug.
Of 1,367 people given a half first dose of the vaccine followed by a full second dose, there was 90 per cent protection against Covid-19 when compared with a control group of 1,374 people. Again, this dosing regime was not approved on Wednesday.
The overall Lancet data, which was peer-reviewed, set out full results from clinical trials of more than 20,000 people.
Among the people given the placebo drug, 10 were admitted to hospital with coronavirus, including two with severe Covid-19 which resulted in one death.
However, among those receiving the vaccine, there were no hospital admissions or severe cases.
The combined analysis from both dosing regimens resulted in an average efficacy of 70.4 per cent.
However, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van Tam said in a press conference on Dec 30 that although people receiving the vaccine would be protected, he could not provide assurance they would not still “pose a hazard” to others in terms of passing on the virus.
“We will know quite quickly within a couple of months the impact of these vaccines on reducing severe illness in the population,” he said.
“We don’t know if the vaccines will reduce transmission but Public Health England have their finger on the pulse.”
He would also go on to say that it would take up to two weeks for scientists to confirm the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines were effective against the new strains of Covid-19.
Millions of people who have already recovered from coronavirus are likely to have protection greater than the Oxford vaccine, raising questions as to whether people should be antibody tested to avoid wasting jabs.
New research from Public Health England (PHE) shows that antibodies from a previous infection provide at least 83 per cent protection from picking up the virus again, and possibly up to 99 per cent, for at least five months and probably far longer.
In contrast, the Oxford vaccine has a short-term efficacy of 73 per cent after one dose, and longer-term protection of around 70 per cent after two doses.
In a sample of more than 6,600 healthcare staff who tested positive for an infection, just 44 people were reinfected within five months, and only two of those cases were deemed “probable”, with the rest being classed as only “possible”.
In a sample of more than 6,600 healthcare staff who tested positive for an infection, just 44 people were reinfected within five months, and only two of those cases were deemed “probable”, with the rest being classed as only “possible”.
How many doses does the UK have?
The UK has secured 100 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, this is the most the Government has ordered out of all of the potential vaccine candidates.
The order is enough to vaccinate 50 million people.
AstraZeneca said it aimed to supply millions of doses in the first quarter of this year as part of an agreement with the Government.
There will be four million doses available post authorisation and tens of millions of doses in the first quarter of this year.
A specific schedule is difficult to establish as batches need to be quality approved by the MHRA.
Which NHS Trusts are receiving the vaccine first?
On Jan 4, six NHS Trusts in England will begin to roll out the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. This is before inoculations of the vaccine will be administered by GP-led services later in the week.
The six NHS Trusts are:
- Royal Free Hospital London NHS Foundation Trust
- Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
- Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
- Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
- George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
Brian Pinker, 82, was the first person to receive the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine at Churchill Hospital in Oxford.
Does it differ to Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines?
Yes. The jabs from Pfizer and Moderna are messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines.
Conventional vaccines are produced using weakened forms of the virus, but mRNAs use only the virus’s genetic code.
An mRNA vaccine is injected into the body where it enters cells and tells them to create antigens.
These antigens are recognised by the immune system and prepare it to fight coronavirus.
No virus is needed to create an mRNA vaccine. This means the rate at which the vaccine can be produced is accelerated.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have both been approved in the US.
The UK Government began the roll-out of the Pfizer vaccine on Dec 8.
Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, the Oxford jab does not require ultra-low temperatures.
The Oxford jab requires temperatures between 2C and 8C and can be stored for at least six months.
This is the typical temperature of a domestic refrigerator and this will make deployment of the vaccine much easier and faster.
What about antibodies and T-cells?
The Pfizer, Oxford/AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines have been shown to provoke both an antibody and T-cell response.
Antibodies are proteins that bind to the body’s foreign invaders and tell the immune system it needs to take action.
T-cells are a type of white blood cell which hunt down infected cells in the body and destroy them.
Nearly all effective vaccines induce both responses.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine induces robust antibody and T-cell responses across people of all ages, the data indicates.
Can the Oxford vaccine be manufactured to scale?
Yes. The UK Government has secured 100 million doses as part of its contract, enough for most of the population.
The head of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, venture capitalist Kate Bingham, has said she is confident it can be produced at scale.
Where is it being manufactured?
While there are some doses coming from Europe in the very first instance, the majority will be provided from the UK supply chain.
In an exclusive report on Jan 16, The Telegraph shared plans for a new £158m “super-factory”,which would produce 70m doses of an emergency vaccine on British soil- enough to vaccinate the entire nation against new coronavirus strains within four months. The factory will open later this year.
Do you need two doses of the Oxford vaccine?
The MHRA has recommended the over 18s should receive two doses to be administered with an interval of between four and 12 weeks.
Will the vaccines be given out 24 hours a day?
Boris Johnson has confirmed that round-the-clock vaccine centres will be opened “as soon as we can”. The Prime Minister is currently facing pressure from MPs to accelerate the vaccination schedule.
Matt Hancock, however, told BBC Breakfast a 24/7 approach was unlikely to be “the major factor” in hitting the mid-February target, but he was “absolutely” behind it “if it helps speed things up”.
Sources in Whitehall have said that plans are in place to pilot a 24-hour vaccination centre to test demand. This comes as manufacturing companies have told ministers that they will be able to produce enough vaccines should 24-hour roll out be introduced across the country.
Supplying vaccinations overnight will speed up the rollout, and allow the Government to reach their goal of vaccinating 32 million people- 60 per cent of the UK adult population by Spring-which was announced on Jan 11.
Can this vaccine help the elderly?
There have been concerns that a Covid-19 vaccine will not work as well on elderly people, much like the annual flu jab.
However, data from the Oxford/AstraZeneca trial suggests there have been “similar” immune responses among younger and older adults.
The results show that the vaccine is better tolerated in older people compared with younger adults, and produces a similar immune response in old and young adults.
Brian Pinker was the first person to be administered with the vaccine. The 82 year old dialysis patient from Oxford stated that he is “so pleased to be getting the Covid vaccine today and really proud that it is one that was invented in Oxford.”
Can pregnant women have the vaccine?
Pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers have now been given the green light to take either the Oxford and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines following an appropriate case-by-case risk evaluation with their healthcare practitioner.
This is a reversal of previous advice which was put in place as precautionary measure.
Traditionally pregnant women are not included in clinical trials, but following a review the MHRA are recommending pregnant women be given the opportunity to receive the vaccine as as there is no evidence they would be at risk.
Dr June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, said: “Our advice to date has been that given that in initial lack of evidence on a precautionary basis, use of a vaccine wasn’t recommended in pregnancy and women with breastfeeding should not be given the vaccine.
“But now that we have reviewed further data that has become available, the Commission on Human medicines has advised that the vaccine can be considered for use in pregnancy when the potential benefits outweigh the risks following an individual discussion with every woman.”
Can people with allergies have the vaccine?
The roll-out of the Pfizer vaccine was halted for those who are known to suffer from severe allergic reactions following a handful of adverse events in the initial distribution of the vaccine.
There were some concerns that this would also apply to the Oxford jab.
However, following a review, the UK regulatory body has recommended both the Pfizer and Oxford vaccine are safe to administer to those with food or medicine allergies.
Only those who have a known history of reacting to vaccines in the past should proceed with caution.
Sir Munir Pirmohamed, clinical pharmacologist and geneticist, and chairman of Commission on Human Medicine Expert Working Group, said. “We’ve come to the recommendation people with a known history of reacting to any specific ingredients of vaccine should not have it. But people with allergies to other medicines or food can have the vaccine.”
Dr June Raine added that “at least 800,000 in the UK, probably a million and a half in the US” have already received the Pfizer vaccine.
There has been “no additional concerns and this gives us further assurance that the risk of anaphylaxis can be managed through standard clinical guidance and an observation period following vaccination of at least 15 minutes.”
When will roll-out of the Oxford vaccine start?
The Oxford vaccine roll out began on Jan 4.
Mr Johnson has pledged that the NHS is committed to offering a vaccination to everyone in the top four priority groups by Feb 15.
To help with meeting this target there are already 595 GP-led sites providing vaccines with a further 180 coming on stream later this week, he said. There are also 107 hospital sites with a further 100 later this week.
Furthermore, on Jan 7, The Ministry of Defence revealed it has prepared a “reserve” taskforce of 1,500 members of the Armed Forces who are ready to work at jab centres, should the vaccinators fall ill, and extra staff are required.
The plan comes after the NHS made a formal request to the Civil Authority (Maca) convention via the Military Aid, for 133 members army personnel to take part in the vaccination programme. The workers began their training on Jan 4, and will start administering vaccines from Jan 11.
Seven vaccination centres will also be opening in places such as sports stadiums and exhibition centres, including Derby Arena, which opened as a vaccination centre on Jan 7.
The Telegraph also understands the Prime Minister wants to have established 50 mass vaccination centres across England by mid-February to help drive the mass vaccination programme.
Ministers hope that the rapid expansion of these regional centres will deliver two million jabs a week by the beginning of next month.
The NHS have announced that high street pharmacies in England will be able to distribute coronavirus vaccines from Jan 14.
Boots and Superdrug branches will be among the six stores across the country which will be able to administer the jabs.
Boots in Halifax, and Superdrug in Guildford, will be in the first group to hand out the injections, alongside Andrews Pharmacy in Macclesfield, Cullimore Chemist in Edgware, north London, Woodside Pharmacy in Telford and Appleton Village pharmacy in Widnes.
The stores have been picked because they are capable of delivering large volumes of the medicine and allow for social distancing, while still giving a spread across the country.
By the end of the month, more than 200 community chemists will be able to give vaccines, according to NHS England.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
