Pfizer vaccine could arrive in UK tomorrow, BioNTech chief reveals

The UK could receive its first doses of a coronavirus vaccine as early as tomorrow, a key stakeholder has revealed, in a boost to Christmas immunisation hopes.

Elderly people in care homes and their carers are top of the list to be vaccinated after Britain became the first country in the world to formally approve the Pfizer and BioNTech jab.

Sean Marett, BioNTech’s chief commercial officer and the man responsible for the vaccine’s distribution , said the first deliveries could arrive in the country on Thursday.

Speaking just hours after the UK medicines regulator gave the jab the green light, Mr Marett said: “We’re packing them now as we speak and getting ready for shipping.”

He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One Programme: “What we can definitely say is it will arrive, the first consignment, in the next few days and that could be as early as tomorrow or it could be a few days later, but the UK will be the first country in the world to be receiving vaccine for administration to its population.

“We will probably be shipping several consignments to the UK over the next few weeks and it might be that the numbers vary on size of packaging that we put together in a lorry and then ship, so the UK has a good number of vaccines coming to it in December.”

Mr Marrett also confirmed that Britain is set to receive at least five million doses of vaccine by the end of year.

The UK had initially ordered 10 million but Mr Marett said the amount being shipped out was being scaled back for all orders.

“The 10 million doses were assuming a 100 million production of doses this year,” he said.

“There are approximately up to 50 million doses that we will be producing this year and so I think it is reasonable to assume that there will be a scaling back of that 10 million for December, just like for every other country.”

Pressed on whether the UK could therefore expect half its order, he said: “I think if I was a betting man, I would think that is a reasonable assumption – maybe a little more than that actually.”

The Pfizer vaccine was approved today by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and the Government said vaccination will begin next week.

Boris Johnson insisted that vaccines will allow Britons to “reclaim our lives”, although he acknowledged there are “logistical challenges” to overcome.

Addressing Prime Minister’s Questions, he hailed the latest progress towards mass Covid-19 vaccination as “very good news” but emphasised that “it is not the end of our national struggle”.

Mr Johnson also said the requirement to keep the Pfizer vaccine at -70C means there are “logistical challenges to be overcome to get vulnerable people the access to the vaccine” they need.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had pressed the Prime Minister on the practicalities of getting the jab into care homes and raised concerns about public confidence in vaccines.

He asked Mr Johnson to back calls for legislation to enable financial penalties to be issued to companies which fail to act on “life-threatening disinformation” about vaccines.

Sir Keir asked about the priority list for vaccinations, saying: “Now, I’m not criticising that list in the slightest but it’s obvious that’s more than 400,000 people.

“The Prime Minister will understand how anxious people are in those particular groups after having sacrificed so much, so can the Prime Minister tell us the answer to the question they’re going to be asking this morning, which is when does he expect that all people in those two top groups can expect to be vaccinated?”

Mr Johnson replied: “I think at this stage it is very, very important that people do not get their hopes up too soon about the speed with which we will be able to roll out this vaccine.

“It is beginning, as my right honourable friend the Health Secretary has said, from next week. We are expecting several million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine before the end of the year.

“We will then be rolling it out as fast as we possibly can.”

Asked by Sir Keir about getting the vaccine into care homes, Mr Johnson said: “It does need to be kept at -70C, as I think the House understands, so there are logistical challenges to be overcome to get vulnerable people the access to the vaccine that they need.

“We are working on it with all four devolved administrations in order to ensure that the NHS across the country is able – and it’s the NHS that will be in the lead – to distribute it as fast and as sensibly as possible to the most vulnerable groups.”

Away from the Commons, Mr Marett explained that the vaccine could be transported by van to a care home and stored in a fridge for up to five days.

He said: “We have stability studies now really supporting the evidence for being able to transport up to six hours at 2C-8C, so you can really take vials from the vaccination centre, one of the large ones, put them in a bag at 2C-8C, and take them to the care homes where they can be administered directly to the patients.”

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