By The scientists have done it – PM
‘The scientists have done it’- that was the message from the Prime Minister at a Downing Street briefing tonight.
He was addressing the nation on the day the news broke that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.
Boris Johnson began by saying it had been almost a year since “humanity was tormented by Covid“.
He said we have been waiting for the “searchlight of science to pick out our invisible enemy” and “now the scientists have done it”.
The UK has bought 40 million doses of vaccines, and the rollout will begin next week, the Prime Minister told the nation.
Top of the list is the elderly in care homes, as well as health and social workers.
He stressed the rollout will be an “immense logistical challenge”, for reasons including the temperature it needs to be stored at.
And he also warned it would be “some months before all the most vulnerable are protected” and we must not get “carried away with over-optimism”.
“Our plan does rely on all of us continuing to make sacrifices for those we love,” he said.
The new restrictions that came into force in England today are necessary to keep the virus under control until the vaccine is rolled out, the Prime Minister continued.
But he said: “We are no longer resting on the mere hope that we can return to normal next year but the sure and certain knowledge we will.”
Mr Johnson says it was a “huge moment” and he was “lost in admiration for science”.
Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, was also present and said the roll out would start this month but the bulk of doses for the at-risk population would be from January to April.
“I was quite emotional this morning when I heard [the scientists] lay out, very meticulously, how they got to their conclusions about the Pfizer vaccine,” he said.
“What a momentous journey… it has been.”
Professor Van-Tam said the “train has now slowed down safely and stopped at the station”, adding he wants people to get on the train and head to their destination – the vaccination.