Covid latest: Vaccine roll-out and coronavirus talking points

• Covid-19 vaccinations will be administered at dozens of hospital hubs from Tuesday – with people aged 80 and over, care home workers and NHS workers who are at higher risk the first to receive the jab. There is still no guaranteed date for when care home residents will be vaccinated despite them being at the top of the priority list, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock saying there are “significant challenges” to overcome. The deputy chief executive of NHS Providers said the UK is expecting to receive up to four million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by the end of December. Saffron Cordery told Sky News that only hospitals had the infrastructure to store the vaccines. 

Vaccines are expected to be administered starting on Tuesday Picture: PA

• Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which approved the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, said there “should be no doubt whatever that this is a very safe and highly effective vaccine”.Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show about how important the public health message is to make sure that people actually take the vaccine, she said: “It’s vitally important. And I would really like to emphasise that the highest standards of scrutiny, of safety and of effectiveness and quality have been met, international standards. And so there should be real confidence in the rigour of our approval."
• The Queen will reportedly receive the Covid-19 vaccine within weeks and make it public afterwards. Buckingham Palace said it would not comment on the story in The Mail On Sunday which suggests that a public announcement would encourage more people to get the jab. Environment Secretary George Eustice has said it will be a “personal decision” for the Queen whether she takes the coronavirus vaccine. Asked on Times Radio if he would like to see the monarch take the vaccine and then announce publicly that she had done so, Mr Eustice said: “It will be a personal decision for the Queen, as it is for everyone." He added: "It is very important that we get those vulnerable groups, some of the older population, those over the age of 80, to take the vaccine early.”

Buckingham Palace would not comment on reports that the Queen will reportedly receive the Covid-19 vaccine within weeks and make it public afterwards Picture: PA

• Ex-Manchester United and England footballer Gary Neville has spoken out against “division” as the country deals with the coronavirus pandemic, and said: “At this moment in time we aren’t working as one as a nation, we need to work better.” Asked about what this says about the country’s political leaders, Neville told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “They’re out of their depth. The countries who’ve dealt with this really well they’ve had definite and sure leaders, people who have been in control, composed, clear plans, clear communication strategy, aggressive testing, disciplined tracing, they’ve had maybe border controls in place early, they’ve made decisions that have been unpopular at times, but they’ve really handled the virus well. We’re still, eight months later, none the wiser as to how our long-term looks, how our short-term looks, how our medium-term looks."

Ex-Manchester United and England footballer Gary Neville Picture: PA

• There have been 642 new Covid-19 cases recorded in the region according to the latest Government figures published this afternoon. It brings the total number of confirmed, recorded cases in our region to 122,952 since the start of the pandemic. Nationally the Government said a further 231 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday, bringing the UK total to  61,245. Figures show there have been a further 17,272 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,723,242. The total number of confirmed deaths reported in English hospitals is now 42,389, NHS England said on Sunday.