Boris Johnson has warned people not to “get their hopes up” about an early release from the threat of coronavirus after the UK has become the first western country to license a vaccine. It is a landmark moment in the fight against the pandemic, but at PMQs, and later at a press conference, Johnson struck an uncharacteristically cautious note, stressing that it would be months before the impact of the breakthrough was widely felt.
Johnson and Sir Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive, have confirmed that most care home residents will need to wait for their vaccine because of difficulties in transporting the newly-approved Pfizer/BioNTech product - despite the fact that care home residents are meant to be getting it first. (See 11.23am.) Stevens said the vaccine has to be stored at such low temperatures that it can only be moved a few times, while the packs of doses - with 975 doses per pack - cannot be easily split. He said the first people to receive the jab from 50 hospital hubs would be the over-80s, care home staff and others identified by the JCVI [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] who may already have a hospital appointment. At their press conference at No 10 Johnson said: It will inevitably take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected - long, cold months. Johnson has refused to back claims from some of his ministers (see 3.54pm) that Brexit helped the UK to approve the vaccine early. (See 5.40pm.) Johnson has played down the prospect of the tiering system being abandoned when MPs next have to vote for it before 3 February. Asked if he accepted the measures would have to be rolled over, he replied: We will judge the situation ... on the basis of the data. But I think, for the time being, you have got to take it that tiering is going to be a very, very important part of our campaign against coronavirus. Johnson has played down suggestions from Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, that people will be adjusting their lives to take account of Covid for years to come. Van-Tam told the press confernce: Do I think there will come a big moment where we have a massive party and throw our masks and hand sanitiser and say ‘that’s it, it’s behind us’, like the end of the war? No, I don’t. I think those kind of habits that we have learned from... will, perhaps persist for many years, and that may be a good thing if they do. Johnson made it clear he took a different view. He added: And, maybe ... on the other hand, we may want to get back to life as pretty much as close to normal. Van-Tam also said that he did not think coronavirus would every be eradicated, and that it could become a seasonal problem. He said: I don’t think we are going to eradicate coronavirus ever. I think it’s going to be with humankind forever. I think we may get to a point where coronavirus becomes a seasonal problem. I don’t want to draw too many parallels with ‘flu, but, possibly, that is the kind of way we would learn to live with it. Care home bosses in England have accused the government of “jumping the gun” by announcing that relatives can start hugging their relatives again, and say they are already turning loved ones away because the required Covid tests have not yet arrived. The European Medicines Agency has suggested British regulators prioritised speed over winning public confidence to enable the UK to become the first western country to license a coronavirus vaccine. Britain’s preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic was undermined by scientists believing that such a disease was unlikely to reach UK shores and spread widely, the former chief medical officer for England has told MPs. Boris Johnson has lowered his Brexit demands by asking EU fishing fleets to hand over up to 60% of the value of stocks it takes from British waters, but the gap with Brussels remains wide, Michel Barnier has said ahead of what he described as a crucial 36 hours. That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.