Advertisement

"I think it's marvellous''- Brits react to vaccine news

There was relief on the streets of London Monday morning (November 23)...

"I think it's marvellous''

...as residents reacted to the news that Britain is on track to make COVID-19 vaccines widely available by next spring.

It comes after the shot developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca was found to be up to 90% effective in trials.

The encouraging late-stage trial results were the third published among the seven vaccine candidates Britain has ordered, following on from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

Adrian Hill is the director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University.

"If you'd said to me a year ago that in 2020 anybody would make a vaccine for a global pandemic in months rather than years, I would have thought that that was hugely challenging and difficult. Three groups have done it already, there may be a fourth by the end of the year. It is quite remarkable and it can only happen if extraordinary support is provided and that support has been forthcoming from all quarters.''

Britain has secured 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca shot, 40 million of the Pfizer vaccine and 5 million of Moderna's candidate.

As the UK prepares to exit a national lockdown next week, some are cautiously optimistic.

"Speaking for myself, if I had to wait a bit longer just to make sure that it's all very safe, that would be fine.''