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British People Told To Get The Covid-19 Vaccine If They Want Their Freedoms Back

British People Told To Get The Covid-19 Vaccine If They Want Their Freedoms Back

The Pfizer/BioNTech has become the fastest vaccine in history approved for mass use in the UK.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has been approved for mass use in the UK and it's expected to be rolled out in a week.

There has been a lot of buzz about whether people will want to get the vaccination, however Brits have been given their biggest encouragement to date.

The UK's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, recognised that people are 'fed up' with lockdown rules and social distancing restrictions. He said that can all evaporate if everyone gets the Covid-19 vaccine.

PA

"If you want that dream to come true as quickly as it can come true, then you have to take the vaccine when it's offered to you," he told a press conference.

"Low uptake will almost certainly make restrictions last longer."

He did however sound a cautious note about whether we could ever live in a world without Covid-19.

"I don't think we are going to eradicate coronavirus ever - I think it is going to be with humankind forever," the Deputy Chief Medical Officer said.

He believes it could become a 'seasonal problem' like the flu and that we shouldn't be rushing into the streets to celebrate as if we've just won a war.

"I think those kinds of habits that we learned, that clearly stop the spread of other respiratory diseases like flu, will perhaps persist for many years."

But there was cause for celebration in the UK as it announced it would become the first place in the world to approve a vaccination for mass use.

Regulator MHRA says it is safe and trials have shown it will provide up to 95 percent protection against Covid-19, with immunisation potentially starting in days for those classed as high priority. The government has already ordered doses to vaccinate 20m people - with each person needing two jabs each.

The first 800,000 doses are set to arrive in the next few days. Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC: "From next week, we'll be able to start rolling this out.

"We'll start with those who are most vulnerable to coronavirus. Once we've protected the most vulnerable it will help us all get back to normal and back to all the things that we love."

It's the fastest vaccine to be developed ever - taking just 10 months to go from inception to being regulated. The vaccine needs to be kept at -70C, but it can be stored for up to five days in a fridge, at 2-8C.

Priority will be given to care home residents, who might not be able to go to a centre to get the jab, and then the staff who look after them.

It will then be given to the over-80s and then NHS staff.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, News