London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 30, 2025

Coronavirus: Vaccine chief 'optimistic' about over-50s May target

Coronavirus: Vaccine chief 'optimistic' about over-50s May target

The UK can meet the target of vaccinating all over-50s by May, the chairman of the vaccines taskforce has said, adding he is "very optimistic".

Dr Clive Dix told the BBC the taskforce has met every target set.

The UK would be "ahead of the game" in terms of anticipating variants of coronavirus and was making "libraries of future vaccines", he said.

He added that the UK would not hoard supplies but would distribute them globally, once the UK target is met.

Downing Street has said everyone in the UK aged 50 and over should have been offered a coronavirus vaccine by May.

Previously, ministers had said it was their "ambition" to vaccinate the first nine priority groups by the spring.

As of Friday, the UK had given a first jab to nearly 11.5 million people and is aiming to reach 15 million vaccinations by 15 February.

The latest figures also showed another 828 people in the UK have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test, and there were a further 18,262 cases.

Dr Dix, who heads the government unit charged with developing and producing vaccines, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We will work day and night to ensure we meet whatever the target that's feasible can be met.

"So I'm very optimistic that we will meet the May target."

Questions have been raised around the efficacy of vaccines against variants of the virus - including the one first identified in Kent.

On Friday, Oxford-AstraZeneca said its vaccine gave people good protection against the UK variant.

Variants in South Africa and Brazil have also been identified.

Dr Dix, who is also chief executive of drug discovery company C4X Discovery, said the UK was "at the forefront of surveying" the variants, allowing scientists to "second-guess" mutations that have not yet occurred.

They can then make vaccines for those variants, he told the programme.

"We'll make libraries of future vaccines, just small amounts, enough to then, if it does occur, do a quick clinical study to see that it works and then start manufacturing it," he said.



Hitting this target is all about vaccine supply


The NHS has the staff, the volunteers and the clinics needed to vaccinate the 15 million in these next priority groups as well as give second doses to those who have already had their first jab.

But vaccine production is a biological process so there are no guarantees about how much can be grown.

However, there is growing confidence in the UK supply chain.

The bulk of the supplies are now coming from UK-based plants producing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and the yields from these are now consistently in line with expectation unlike those in Europe which started producing the vaccine later and have had less time to iron out the teething problems.

On top of this, supplies from Pfizer-BioNTech are expected to increase from mid-February after a slowdown in recent weeks.

There will also be a third vaccine made by US firm Moderna to help. The first batches of the 17 million ordered will start arriving before Easter.

It will all be needed as there can be no let up if the over-50s are to get vaccinated in the timeframe set out.
2px presentational grey line

Asked whether there could be a vaccine-busting variant at some stage, Dr Dix said: "There's a possibility, but we'll be ahead of the game, we're not going to be waiting for it to happen.

"We now have the capabilities in the UK to be responsive and that capability won't just be for the use of the UK of course.

"Once we've done it, it will actually help the whole world because it will be part of that whole surveillance and reaction."

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned that mutations of the virus could lead to a "cycle" of lockdowns in the future if measures were not put in place, such as effective contact tracing.

"The worry that we have to really plan for is the possibility that we will have a new mutation that is actually immune to the vaccines that we're giving out at the moment," Mr Hunt said.

"So, in order to make sure that we don't get caught out by that again, we need to get transmission levels down to the kind of levels where we can do incredibly thorough contact tracing, like they do in Korea and Taiwan."

He also repeated his call for the government to consider more financial support for people told to self-isolate by NHS contact tracers, for example by offering to "make up any salary losses".

Despite the promising news over vaccines, doctors have warned against relaxing rules too quickly.

Dr Daniele Bryden, a consultant in intensive care medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, told Today: "I think the vaccination is really encouraging, but we really can't let our guard down and relax the rules.

"For example, the average age of a patient on intensive care at the moment is only 60 and 40% of people on intensive care are less than that age. So it's going to take some time before we see the impact of vaccination."



Every adult in the UK will be offered a vaccine by the autumn, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last month.

Meanwhile, surge testing is being rolled out to further areas to control and suppress the spread of coronavirus variants, including in:

*  targeted areas around Worcestershire

*  an area in Sefton, Merseyside (PR9)

*  and areas in Bristol and South Gloucestershire

The Department for Health and Social Care said people living in targeted areas were "strongly encouraged" to take a Covid test this week, whether showing symptoms or not.

Testing for the South African variant is also due to be increased in Southport after a second case was detected.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
×