Of course there will be 'ifs and buts' yet - it is a brand new discovery! And of course Jo Bloggs in the street won't be invited for it for a long time yet either.
It is more than anyone dare do to use it widespread until the trials are finished. (Unless you do what the Chinese are reported to be doing, and flogging it to Jo public at £45 a shot)!

However, I prefer to be quietly optimistic, rather condemning it automatically.

Great news that pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, in conjunction with a German pharmaceutical company, have discovered a vaccine that prevents catching Covid 19 by 90%.

Britain has pre-ordered 40 million doses (which will cover 20 million with 2 doses) which will be allocated first to front line staff and then vulnerable people.

Something to hope for, at last!

Dr Sophie Harman, global health expert at Queen Mary University London, says today's news from Pfizer is "incredibly exciting" and could be a "major game-changer" in our response to Covid-19.

She adds: "However before we get too carried away we really have to be careful about safety and scale around the vaccine, so whilst we can go with confidence, I don’t think we can go back to normal by Christmas or the New Year as I am sure everyone would hope.

“The other thing we have to think about a little bit is also who gets the vaccine and who gets the vaccine first. We know there's a priority among front-line health workers which is quite right - but how does that actually become enacted in practice?

"I think we also need to think about how we build trust, both in the UK and round the world around vaccines. Before Covid-19 there was a growth of anti-vaccination, of anti-vaxxers, and we need to crush that quite quickly if people are going to see an uptake in the vaccine.*

"Finally, I would also say there's a sort of tendency that when we get excited about vaccines is to think about vaccines as sort of silver bullet. And this cannot replace just the tried and tested methods of track and trace**, monitoring the outbreak, and changing our behaviour***.

"So it's extremely exciting, very hopeful, but let's not take our eye off the ball of the very basics of how we respond to health crises."

Great news that pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, in conjunction with a German pharmaceutical company, have discovered a vaccine that prevents catching Covid 19 by 90%.

Britain has pre-ordered 40 million doses (which will cover 20 million with 2 doses) which will be allocated first to front line staff and then vulnerable people.

Something to hope for, at last!

Boris Johnson begins by saying that people are asking that "does the progress towards a vaccine made today mean we are at the beginning of the end to our troubles".

"We have cleared one significant hurdle but there are several more to go," he says.

But he adds if and when the vaccine is ready to be sued the UK is "towards the front of the pack" as it has already ordered 40 million doses.

There will be an NHS-led vaccine programme, Johnson says.

He adds he must stress that "these are very, very early days" and the distant toot of the scientific bugle is louder but still someway off.

Good News!

Now, O.F.F

(old fogies first!) or OFF OFF (Over 50s forum + Old Fogies First)

The scientists on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation previously published a list of prioritisation of who should get a jab first, with care home residents and staff among those at the top.

The interim guidance says the order of priority should be:

• Older adults in a care home and care home workers
• All those aged 80 and over and health and social care workers, though they may move up the list
• Anyone 75 years of age and over
• People aged 70 and over
• All those aged 65 and over
• High-risk adults under 65 years of age
• Moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age
• All those aged 60 and over
• All those 55 and over
• All those aged 50 and over
• The rest of the population, with priority yet to be determined

But the committee stressed this list was "not considered definitive" as more data is still being collected on at-risk groups.

Did I condemn it .....

It seems, rather, that some FMs are far too quick to condemn ME .....

You were not very optimistic either Omah.

No cause for rejoicing just yet .....

Despite today’s positive vaccine announcement, the PM struck a deliberately cautious tone. Boris Johnson stressed that news of an effective vaccine was not yet a solution.

Number 10 clearly doesn’t want the suggestion of a scientific breakthrough to be any sort of green light for people to flout lockdown rules at what he described as a critical moment.

The PM has been among the most optimistic – perhaps hopeful - in the past about science providing the way out of this pandemic. But the message today was, 'we’re not there yet', calling instead for the public to keep their resolve.