NOW there are more Covid vaccines, will a wider range of people can be vaccinated?

The Oxford University and AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for use in the UK, paving the way for mass rollout.

Described as a “game-changer”, the vaccine was given the go-ahead by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

All of the people at the top of the priority list created by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have not yet been vaccinated.

Therefore vaccinators will continue to work their way through the list.

As things stand, the vaccines will be rolled out as and when they become available. No announcement has been made on whether one might be given priority over another as they become ready on a mass scale.

People are not expected to be able to choose which jab they want to receive.

It is hoped more people in care homes will be reached with the rollout of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, which is expected to begin on January 4.

The JCVI’s guidance says the order of priority should be:

  • Older adults in a care home and care home workers
  • All those who are 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers
  • All those who are 75 years of age and over
  • All those who are 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals, excluding pregnant women and those under 18 years of age
  • All those who are 65 years of age and over
  • Individuals aged 16 to 64 years with underlying health conditions
  • All those aged 60 and over
  • All those aged 55 and over
  • All those aged 50 and over

Professor Wei Shen Lim, chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, however suggested key workers and non-patient-facing NHS staff could also be considered. 

Asked about the prioritisation of NHS staff for the vaccine, he said: “With the announcements today, we will see a much greater supply in vaccine availability and that will mean that hopefully, all NHS frontline workers will very soon be able to be offered a vaccine wherever they are, because the constraints will be so much less, and that is the greatest urgency above all.

“In relation to other NHS workers who are not patient-facing, they will also be considered within the groups that are in phase two of the programme. So, alongside other key workers. And as I mentioned before, that exact decision hasn’t been made yet.”

The UK has secured access to 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine, which is almost enough for most of the population.

It also belatedly struck a deal for seven million doses of the jab on offer from Moderna in the US.

The deals cover four different classes: adenoviral vaccines, mRNA vaccines, inactivated whole virus vaccines and protein adjuvant vaccines.

The UK has secured access to:

  • 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine
  • 60 million doses of the Novavax vaccine
  • Some 30 million doses from Janssen
  • 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine – the first agreement the firms signed with any government
  • 60 million doses of a vaccine being developed by Valneva
  • 60 million doses of protein adjuvant vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi Pasteur
  • Seven million doses of the jab on offer from Moderna in the US

The early vaccine candidates all have high efficacy rates, but researchers say it is difficult to make direct comparisons because it is not yet known exactly what everyone is measuring in the trials.