Matt Hancock says coronavirus vaccine rollout ‘could start on December 1st’

The coronavirus vaccine rollout could start within two weeks, according to health secretary Matt Hancock.

The earliest date the health secretary claims it could be rolled out is December 1st. 

He said it is critical they have been buying the first vaccines available, and that between the Pfizer and Astra Zeneca vaccines they have ‘over 100 million doses on order’. 

He said: “That’s why we’ve taken the approach we have. As today’s news demonstrates, this process isn’t over.”

He corrected Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, who claimed earlier in the press conference that 350 million doses were on order.

The news of the Moderna vaccine announcement meant there were another five million doses added to the list.

The health secretary said December 1st is ‘theoretically the earliest’ the NHS could be ready to roll out the vaccinations.

He said the bulk will likely be in the New Year, adding: “We must be ready”.

Mr Hancock told the press conference: “I’ve asked the NHS to be ready to roll that out [a potential Covid vaccination programme] from December 1st. That is the first possible date it could be ready. That isn’t my essential expectation at all.

“But we do need to be ready for then as that is theoretically, the earliest this could possibly be.

“The bulk of the roll out is likely to be in the new year if one of the two early vaccines come though. We must be ready.”

The vaccine is going to be the ‘biggest and most important thing the NHS has done for quite a while’, according to Professor Van-Tam.

He continued: “I do understand the workload pressures. But I do also think it would be incumbent on every one of us to put in extraordinary efforts to make this programme work with the highest uptake.

“This is a big opportunity to change the way the pandemic will roll out in 2021.

“It could very dramatically change what the late spring and summer will look like. That’s how big the prize is, therefore it’s really important that everyone works really hard on this.”