As 40 million doses make their way to the UK, the country is the first in the West to authorise the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. But, Boris Johnson warns, immense logistical challenges lie ahead.
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00:00And now the scientists have done it.
00:04The virus has got to be stored at minus 70 degrees.
00:08Each person needs two injections, three weeks apart.
00:12So it will inevitably take some months
00:15before all the most vulnerable are protected.
00:18Long, cold months.
00:30It is almost a year since humanity has been tormented by COVID.
00:51Across the world, economic output has plummeted
00:54and a million and a half people have died.
00:57And all the time we've been waiting and hoping
01:00for the day when the searchlights of science
01:03would pick out our invisible enemy
01:06and give us the power to stop that enemy from making us ill.
01:11And now the scientists have done it.
01:15And they've used the virus itself
01:18to perform a kind of biological jiu-jitsu
01:21to turn the virus on itself in the form of a vaccine
01:26an idea that I think was pioneered in this country by Edward Jenner in 1796.
01:32And today we can announce that the government
01:35has accepted the recommendation from the
01:37Independent Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
01:42to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
01:46for distribution across the United Kingdom.
01:49After months of clinical trials involving thousands of people
01:53to ensure that the vaccine meets the strictest
01:56internationally recognised standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.
02:01Thanks to the fantastic work of Kate Bingham and the Vaccines Taskforce
02:05we've purchased more than 350 million doses
02:08of seven different vaccine candidates.
02:11And the UK was the first country in the world
02:14to pre-order supplies of this Pfizer vaccine
02:18securing 40 million doses.
02:21Through our winter plan, the NHS has been preparing
02:24for the biggest programme of mass vaccination in the history of the UK
02:28and that's going to begin next week.
02:30The first phase will include care home residents,
02:33health and care staff, the elderly
02:35and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
02:39But there are immense logistical challenges.
02:42The virus has got to be stored at minus 70 degrees.
02:46Each person needs two injections, three weeks apart.
02:50So it will inevitably take some months
02:53before all the most vulnerable are protected.
02:56Long, cold months.
02:58So it's all the more vital that as we celebrate this scientific achievement
03:03we're not carried away with over-optimism
03:07or fall into the naive belief that the struggle is over.
03:12It's not.
03:13We've got to stick to our winter plan,
03:16a comprehensive programme to suppress the virus,
03:19protect the NHS and the vulnerable,
03:21keep education and the economy going
03:24and use treatments, testing and vaccines
03:28to enable us to return to much closer to normal by the spring.