Matt Hancock Says The UK Has Secured Five Million Doses Of Moderna Vaccine

The UK has secured five million doses of the Moderna vaccine, Matt Hancock has announced.

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Speaking at a Downing Street briefing, the health secretary said the 94.5 percent efficacy indicated by its preliminary results was encouraging.

He added that the vaccine would not be available until spring.

Dr Stephen Hoge, the president of US company Moderna, said he 'grinned ear to ear' when the results came in.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "I don't think any of us really hoped that the vaccine would be 94% effective at preventing Covid-19 disease, that was really a stunning realisation."

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UK has secured "an initial agreement" for five million doses of a new vaccine, Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirms The vaccine that protects against Covid-19 is nearly 95% effective, early data from US company Moderna shows Latest: bbc.in/3lDL8G3

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The UK has also ordered 30 million doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine vaccine, with results from clinical trials indicating it is 90 percent effective.

Speaking about the breakthrough, Dr Albert Bourla, the chairman of Pfizer, said he hoped this would help bring about an end to the suffering being experienced around the world.

He said: "Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine's ability to prevent Covid-19.

"With today's news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis."

Meanwhile, the NHS is readying itself to administer jabs as soon as vaccines are available.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier this month, NHS England Chief Executive Sir Simon Stevens said: "We're also gearing the NHS up to be ready to make a start on administering Covid-19 vaccines before Christmas, if they become available.

"We will be writing to GP practices this week to get them geared up to start by Christmas if the vaccine becomes available."

The UK government's current ranking of vaccine priority groups reads as follows (though this is subject to change):

1. older adults' resident in a care home and care home workers
2. all those 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers
3. all those 75 years of age and over
4. all those 70 years of age and over
5. all those 65 years of age and over
6. high-risk adults under 65 years of age
7. moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age
8. all those 60 years of age and over
9. all those 55 years of age and over
10. all those 50 years of age and over
11. rest of the population (priority to be determined)

Topics: UK News, Coronavirus, Politics, Health

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey