Securing a safe and effective vaccine is the only way to defeat the coronavirus. The UK has secured early access to 90 million doses of two vaccine candidates. This includes 60 million doses of the Nova vaccine and 30 million doses of the Janssen vaccine. So far these two vaccines have shown promising results with the next stage of trials to begin later this year.  

The next step for the Janssen vaccine is to look at whether providing 2 doses of the vaccine will provide long-term protection against the coronavirus. The Novavax vaccine will enter phase 3 of clinical trials. If the vaccines prove to be safe and successful we could see them being delivered to the UK in mid-2021. Initially, they would be given to priority groups, this will include frontline health and social care workers and vulnerable and elderly people.  

Securing access to vaccines is crucial in order to be ready to act fast and save lives, defeat this virus and see life return to normal. It has already caused so much disruption to our lives and although the measures the government have taken has helped mitigate the spread of the virus we need a vaccine to eliminate it altogether. 

I hope the vaccines being tested turn into a success so we can distribute them as quickly as possible and see the back of this virus once and for all.