Covid-19 Vaccine: Your questions answered by experts│ Watch in full
2 December 2020, 18:31 | Updated: 3 December 2020, 11:21
Covid Vaccine: Your questions answered
This is the moment an immunology expert set out to explain some details regarding the new Covid vaccine.
Dr Doug Brown, the CEO of the British Society of Immunology told LBC's Shelagh Fogarty about how the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would work, after it was approved for use in the UK.
Officials said the vaccine will be made available "from next week" and hailed the news which makes the UK the first country in the world to have a clinically approved Covid-19 vaccine.
The jab has been shown in studies to be 95% effective and works in all age groups but needs to be stored at minus 70C.
Dr Brown explained: "This [vaccine] in particular trains your cells in your body to produce a bit of the protein that we see on the virus that causes Covid-19. [It's] absolutely harmless as a bit of protein.
"But then your immune system recognises that and generates an immune response that is then ready if you get infected by the full virus.
"And then your immune response will aim to neutralise that virus and, in this case, will prevent Covid disease in those that have been vaccinated."
Covid Vaccine: Your Questions Answered 2
In line with the recommendations of the independent Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the vaccine will be rolled out to the priority groups including care home residents and staff, people over 80 and health and care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and risk, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the approval of the jab by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and said Covid-19 vaccines will allow Britons to "reclaim our lives".
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs that delivery of the vaccine would be according to "clinical prioritisation and operational necessity because of the need to hold the vaccine at -70C, it makes this vaccine particularly challenging to deploy."
