Peston: The economic case for spending whatever it takes to roll out the Covid vaccine fast
1) The data shows that the vaccine reduces serious illness and risk of mortality from around 10 days of having just first dose.
2) The risk of acute illness, hospitalisation and mortality is highest in the tenth of population who are over 80 or clinically most vulnerable.
3) Tier 4 lockdown is designed primarily to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed by those whose Covid-19 symptoms require hospital treatment.
4) Tier 4 lockdown is coming to a region near you very soon, if you are not there already.
5) Tier 4 is economically devastating.
6) The costs of a military-style operation to vaccinate us would be huge, but they would be a fraction of the economic costs of Tier 4 lockdown.
7) The top priority, by a country mile, of any rational government would therefore be to create the infrastructure for millions of vaccinations per week (I am assuming that the Oxford/AZN vaccine, which is easiest to distribute and of which the government has bought enough for 50m people, is approved in coming days).
8) The threat from the more infectious new Covid-19 strain only strengthens the case for accelerating the vaccination programme to the maximum safe speed.
9) I haven't bothered to make the case that speedier vaccination will save many thousands of lives, possibly tens of thousands, because it's too obvious to mention.
10) I am simply saying there is no economic or financial argument against spending whatever it takes to get the vaccine into us as quickly as possible.