Vaccine result of “unprecedented global effort” and “gives a glimmer of light at the end of what has been a very difficult and long year”

Wales’ chief medical officer has described news that the first coronavirus vaccine has been authorised as a “flagship day for many reasons”.

This morning it was confirmed that the Pfizer Biontech vaccine has become the first to receive Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) clearance in the UK.

40 million doses of the vaccine will shortly be available for delivery across the four nations, with Wales getting its allocation based on population.

The vaccine needs to be administered in two doses, 21 days apart.

The MHRA authorised the first vaccine as ‘safe and effective’ on the basis of detailed independent expert review of evidence from large scale clinical trials.

It is hoped that a second vaccine will be authorised by the regulators by the end of the month.

Speaking at today’s Welsh Government briefing Dr Gillian Richardson, Co-chair of the COVID-19 Vaccine Programme Board, said there is a “glimmer of light at the end of what has been a very difficult and long year.”

Dr Richardson said: “Vaccines are one of our greatest public health interventions. Every year they help to save the lives of around three million people around the world.”

“We have vaccines that can prevent more than 20 life threatening diseases and they’ve helped us to successfully eradicate smallpox and we’re well on the way to defeating polio.”

“Normally it would take around 10 years to develop a vaccine from scratch. But this year we’ve seen an unprecedented global effort to find a vaccine against coronavirus.”

“This morning, we have the really welcome news that the first of these vaccines the Pfizer Biontech vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.

“This is a significant step forward in response to the pandemic.”

“For the first time, we have an opportunity to prevent this terrible illness – a glimmer of light at the end of what has been a very difficult and long year.”

As part of the rollout individuals in the priority groups for the vaccine will receive an invitation from their employer or Health Board providing information about the COVID-19 vaccines, telling them where to go and what to do on the day of their appointment.

The first groups to be offered the vaccine will be frontline NHS and social care workers, people aged over 80 and those that live or work in care homes.

Those who are contacted will be invited to have the vaccine at one of the designated clinics.

However the vaccine will not have an immediate impact on the current wave of coronavirus, with mass vaccination of those eligible unlikely to take place until next spring.

Wales’ Chief Medical Officer, Dr Frank Atherton, described the process as “massive undertaking”, with the Pfizer Biontech vaccine needing to be stored at temperatures of -70C.

It was noted that there are “particular challenges” in how this would be administered to care home residents in the first instance.

Dr Atherton said: “There is a clear list of priorities within the JCVI guidance and all four nations are intending to follow that priority list and work down it.

“However that has to take into account operational concerns. It would be scandalous to waste the vaccine and to not to use it wisely.

“So we are currently exploring ways in which we could try to get vaccine to those residents of care homes.

“Certainly the health care staff and social care staff will be a very high priority and we’re looking for ways to work around that.

“But it is technically quite difficult to achieve that given that we have numerous care homes around the country and the model for delivery of this particular vaccine.”

Dr Richardson added that the first vaccines will go to hospitals and some “mass vaccination sites”.

She continued: “We will be prioritising those that we can safely deliver an effective vaccine to.

“At the very beginning, in the first week of immunisation, it will be bringing people to the vaccine, that will include care home staff.

“As we learn more about the vaccine, and we’re all learning at a UK level, then it’s very much hoped that a mobile model can be developed so that we can safely deployed to care homes without putting care home residents at risk of bringing them to a centre unnecessarily.”

Both Dr Atherton and Dr Richardson also moved to allay concerns people may have over the safety of the vaccine and the relatively short timescale it has been developed in.

Dr Richardson said the “vaccines has had no less stringent scrutiny for public use than any other”.

She said: “The reason why vaccines normally take so long to be developed hinges on several things.

“First of all funding, so that manufacturers could look into developing the vaccine. Then volunteers for the various phases of trials that need to be gone through before approval.

“Also, scientists for this vaccine, I would say there’s overwhelming goodwill to share and to learn from each other.

“The funding has not been a problem, the volunteers have not been a problem and thank you to everybody in Wales who’s participated.

“At the end of all those trials, the process that occurs from that stage on is probably fairly standard and stringent safety checks are requested from the manufacturer.

“All kinds of aspects are looked at, side effects, stability, storage, and so on. So we know that this vaccine has had no less stringent scrutiny for public use than any other. It’s really the front end functions that have taken less time.”

Dr Atherton noted that a population survey carried out between the Welsh Government and Public Health Wales (PHW) found that 70% of the population will be “be looking to accept a vaccine when it’s available.”

He said: “The most obvious question we’re asked is, is this vaccine safe? And that’s the first and foremost question in any of our minds.

“We take good comfort from the fact that the MHRA has looked very carefully at the data that’s been submitted by in this case Pfizer.

“It’s looked at both the safety and the effectiveness, it’s looked at the trials they’ve run. And it’s concluded that there is sufficient data on safety and effectiveness to allow this to be authorised for use in the UK.

“This has been done in record time in 10 months, so that reflects well on the scientists around the world, not just in the UK, but globally, who invested time and energy in this.

“It reflects the huge investment in research and development from the UK Government and other governments and research agencies.

‘It also reflects the fact that organisations of regulatory authorities, like the MHRA, have managed to reduce the paperwork in the bureaucracy while maintaining those critical aspects of safety and effectiveness.”

He added: “We’ve been battling this virus now for the last 11 months – it’s feels like a lot longer.

“It’s been pretty grim I know for many people in Wales, it’s been grim for all of us – and it’s been really fantastic today for Gill and myself to be able to spread a little bit of the good news.”

“It is a flagship day in many ways. There’s a huge way to go still, there’s a big battle in front of us, not least in rolling out vaccine.”

“In the meantime I’d like to just to thank the majority of the Welsh public who behaved so fantastically well and helped to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“I hope we will all be able to continue to do that over the winter period, over the festive period ,so that we can stay safe, get ourselves to a position where the vaccine can really hopefully make a difference to us and we can return to some form of normality.”