Coronavirus UK update live: First vaccine doses to arrive within ‘hours’

Licensed hospitality venues in Jersey will be forced to close from Friday after the island’s government announced a circuit-breaker lockdown to tackle a surge in coronavirus cases.

Pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes, as well as hotels, will be closed as part of the hospitality shutdown, chief minister John Le Fondré Jr announced on Wednesday.

Our reporter, Kate Ng, has the full story below:

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam has said he does not expect other regulators, such as those in the US, to be very far behind in approving the Pfizer vaccine following the UK’s decision yesterday.

“I think this will all be solved in a matter of days, in the sense that I think other regulators are very close behind,” the deputy chief medical officer told BBC Breakfast.

He also said there was no indication that there would be any difficulty in giving the vaccine to people with chronic underlying conditions.

The UK will receive its first doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine within “hours, not days”, the deputy chief medical officer has confirmed.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, who was speaking about the temperature issues in relation to the vaccine, told BBC Breakfast: “Now, there is a technical issue related to the Pfizer vaccine that we currently expect to receive very, very shortly in the UK, and I do mean hours, not days.”

He added that the doses must be held at minus 70C, and, once removed to defrost, they must be stored at 2C to 8C.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson has risked a diplomatic row after suggesting that the UK is getting a coronavirus vaccine before France, Belgium and the US because it is a “much better country”.

Mr Williamson’s remarks followed contradicting claims yesterday over whether Brexit had helped the UK to secure regulatory approval for the jab more quickly than other countries.

Our political correspondent, Ashley Cowburn, has the full story below:

A committee of experts will look into how pupils have been disadvantaged by the coronavirus pandemic, with a report due in the spring, the education secretary has said.

Gavin Williamson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re putting the exam aids there so those children who have missed out can focus on their learning.

“But also what we have done is set up this expert group which is looking at some of the real challenges in terms of differential learning that we will see and have seen around the country.”

When asked whether experts would single out students who have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, Mr Williamson added: “That’s an area we have asked them to examine.

“We’re going to be asking the expert group to look at some of the additional challenges that are going to be evident as a result of differential learning and how we best deal with that and tackle that.

“We want them to look at how we can properly flag that so that the opportunity for that child is there for them to be able to succeed.”

Labour’s shadow education secretary has said it is right to recognise just how much disruption students have suffered during the coronavirus pandemic, adding that she is pleased that an announcement has “finally” come from the government.

Kate Green was speaking after the Department for Education announced additional measures to help students in exams next year – such as more generous grading and advance notice of topics.

Ms Green told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “It’s coming very late on. We’re nearly at the Christmas holidays and students have been very, very anxious ever since September, and teachers uncertain about what they should be preparing their students for.

“It is good now that it’s recognised that special arrangements are going to have to be in place if we’re to treat students fairly next summer.”

She added: “I’m glad the government’s making this announcement, although I still think it could go further and we certainly need more information, for example, about when schools are going to be given advance notice of what subjects will be in the papers.”

The co-founder of BioNTech has described the UK’s approval of its coronavirus vaccine as “an extreme relief”.

Ugur Sahin, whose company developed the jab with Pfizer, said he knew approval could happen about a week ago and started preparations to try to get doses transported to the UK as soon as possible.

He added that his team had not had time to celebrate and were continuing to work on the rollout for the vaccine.

When asked about concerns over the speed of developing the jab, Mr Sahin told Good Morning Britain: “We need to continue to be transparent and informed. It was an historic and unprecedented shot developed in the world.

“This was accomplished not by cutting corners but by diligent work, using new technology, by international collaboration and new models of dealing with scientific challenges.

“We did everything in the development to ensure the vaccine is safe and effective.”

Issues with transporting the Pfizer vaccine will mean people will have to travel to a central hub to receive their jabs, Wales’ chief medical officer has said.

Dr Frank Atherton told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “At the moment, the idea is that people will come to get the vaccine.

“We are concerned, of course, about particularly frail, elderly people living in care homes – they are a very clear priority for us here in Wales – and we’re trying to find ways to get the vaccine to the people, but at the moment that’s the model, that people will be moving towards.”

He added: “We have to kind of temper the prioritisation – and absolutely people in care homes, who have suffered quite significantly in the previous waves of coronavirus, are a priority – but we have to temper that with the operational reality of how we can safely manage and deliver the vaccine.

“We are looking at ways in which we might be able to move the vaccine further down the supply chain and get it closer to people.

“That’s very much work in hand, but at the moment the plan is that we will use mass vaccination centres.”

Education secretary Gavin Williamson has said he can give a “cast-iron guarantee” that GCSE and A-level exams will not be cancelled in England next summer.

A senior vaccination expert has said he understands that the news about care home delays will be disappointing for residents and their families but has called for patience over the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.

Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that people should not “lose sight of the fact that this is a pivotal moment in our collective fight against coronavirus”.

“I think just a very small degrade of patience is required because I think we are at the forefront here in the UK.” Professor Harnden said.

“We have got an exciting vaccine, we have got others that are in the pipeline and we fully expect the programme and our priority list to be rolled out in the very near future so I think the very short-term practical difficulties of getting this out from a storage point of view should not let us all lose sight of the fact that these care home residents and their staff are our utmost priority – and it may well be possible to get the care home staff to be immunised within a local hospital setting.”

He added that the delay for care homes was “not wholly unexpected” due to logistical challenges with distributing a vaccine on a mass scale.