The Deputy Chief Medical Officer in England said he would encourage his mother to get a COVID-19 vaccine as he assured the British that safety standards would not be compromised in the face of the public health emergency.
Professor Jonathan Van Tam, speaking at a press conference in Downing Street, explained how the development and regular approval phase of a vaccine has been accelerated due to Corona Virus crisis.
This included the overlapping of all three phases of clinical trials and drug companies starting to manufacture before final approval was granted – leaving them vulnerable to risks that may have to be scrapped.
However, Professor Van Tam stressed that “the standards are not lower just because this is a public health emergency.”
Dr. John Wren, CEO of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), also pledged that: Covid-19 The vaccine will only be approved after it meets strict criteria for effectiveness, safety, and quality.
American pharmaceutical giant This week Pfizer and its vaccine partner BioNTech released preliminary results that indicated the vaccine dose was 90% effective. In protecting people from COVID-19.
Dr Raine said MHRA has started its work evaluating the Pfizer vaccine but has not yet received the full clinical trial data.
“It is clear that we are ready to begin our strict safety and efficacy reviews the moment we arrive,” she added.
Asked if he was prepared to be among the first people to be vaccinated, Professor Van Tam said: “If I can be at the front of the line, properly and ethically, I will.
Because I fully trust MHRA’s judgment on safety and efficacy.
“ But this is clearly not true – we have to target the most vulnerable individuals in the community and that is how it should be.
“If I could be at the front of the waiting list, I would be.
But let me tell you this, I think the ‘maternal test’ is very important here.
“My mom is 78 years old, and she will be 79 soon, and I have already said to her mom, make sure when she calls you, be ready to take this up, that’s really important to you because it’s your age.”
Care homes, NHS and social care workers, then elderly people are prioritized for immunization.
Professor Van Tam said people should not be able to skip the waiting list by paying private for a vaccine.
“One of the things I love about the NHS is that it is available to everyone, regardless of their level of wealth or who they are in society,” he said.
“This is a really important principle for me personally.”
Professor Van Tam added that making a decision on such an issue would be a “ministerial decision,” but added: “I offer you my views as a doctor. I believe that these vaccines need to be given priority to those who need them, not to those who can afford them. To pay for them privately.”
He acknowledged that introducing a coronavirus vaccine would be a “huge challenge” for the National Health Service, but said he was reassured about questions related to cooling capacity, transportation systems, and the supply of needles and syringes.
Professor Van Tam also offered to administer the vaccinations himself in the evenings and weekends.
But he was unable to say whether life would return to normal by Easter due to the development of a vaccine.
“We do not know yet if this vaccine will prevent transmission as well as prevent disease, and from this perspective it would be wrong for me to give you a sense that whoever told you that we will completely return to normalcy,” said the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, “Easter is right.”
Professor Wei Shin Lim, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, said that the second phase of the vaccination program could give priority to those who may suffer permanent effects of the Corona virus, or who transmit the disease.
“In the second phase of the program, we will likely give priority to individuals who may suffer due to the need to be hospitalized due to COVID or perhaps because of the prolonged COVID,” he said.
“The reason why the decision was not made is that we also need to balance the potential priority of individuals who transmit COVID instead.”
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