London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 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
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×