'No vaccine will be taken away from the North East' to meet February vaccination target, says minister

Tyne Tees
Coronavirus
Coronavirus vaccine
Health
Thursday 4 February 2021 at 5:41pm

Tom Sheldrick

Political Correspondent, ITV Tyne Tees and ITV Border

The vaccines minister has again denied reports that Covid-19 jabs are being diverted away from the North East and Yorkshire to allow other parts of the region to "catch-up" in the vaccine rollout.

Speaking to ITV Tyne Tees political correspondent Tom Sheldrick, Nadhim Zahawi said "no vaccine will be taken away from the North East" to meet the government's target of inoculating the most vulnerable by February 15.

Last month the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported that the number of doses sent to the region was set to be halved. Regional leaders described the reports as "outrageous".

Asked if the North East was being "punished" for the success of its vaccine rollout, Mr Zahawi said, "no, absolutely not."

"You have a population in the North East of those top four cohorts, you will receive vaccines for each and every one of those categories to meet the deadline of mid-February for that vaccination", he said.

"So, no vaccine will be taken away from the North East to meet that target - and then of course we move to the next step once we meet that target..."

Regulators have so far approved three jabs and the UK has secured access to more than 400 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

The Pfizer/BioNTech is already in use, while the Moderna jab has been approved but doses will not be available in the UK until the spring.

Mr Zahawi said he expected the Teeside-manufactured Novavax vaccine to "play a role vaccinating the UK adult population [in the coming months]."

Last week, late-stage trials suggested the vaccine was 89% effective in preventing coronavirus.

The government's vaccine task-force has ordered 60m dose of the Novavax vaccine. The jab will now be assessed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Last week, the health secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS stands ready to roll out the vaccine if it is approved, which he said would provide a “significant boost to our vaccination programme and another weapon in our arsenal to beat this awful virus”.