Coronavirus vaccine offers ‘sense of hope’ to all four corners of the UK

Dr Hari Shukla, 87, and his wife Ranjan, 83 ( Dr Hari Shukla)

For Dr Hari Shukla, 87, and his wife Ranjan, 83, being the first people to receive the coronavirus vaccine at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary felt like a duty, but also a privilege.

“I don’t take this for granted because hundreds of people have worked for this vaccine, day and night, to make sure we got the vaccines in good time, so the lives of people can be saved,” said Dr Shukla. “I’m proud to do my duty.”

The couple are part of a rapidly growing number of people across the four nations of the UK who have taken part in the NHS’s Covid-19 vaccination programme. 

Thousands of people are due to receive their first jab before Christmas after the government accepted the recommendation from the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for use in the UK.

This followed months of rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA, who concluded that the vaccine met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.

The biggest immunisation programme in the history of the NHS started in early December, with 90-year-old grandmother Margaret Keenan, from Coventry – the first Briton to be given the life-saving jab. 

NHS staff including nurses and pharmacists will work alongside GPs to inoculate those aged 80 and over, as well as care home workers and residents, across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The government, which has stressed that approved vaccines will continue to be available in all parts of the UK, is working with the devolved administrations to ensure it is deployed fairly, with those at greatest risk prioritised.

So far, the UK government has secured access to a total of 357 million vaccine doses through agreements with seven separate vaccine developers.

Micky O’Neill, 66, who lives with his wife in a small town near Belfast, said the vaccine was “too important to miss”.

He said: “It is incumbent on all of us to get vaccinated to protect others.”

Retired nurse Margo Deaves, 81, from Inverness, agreed: “It’s really great the vaccine has been developed already, and we’re being offered it so quickly, especially the elderly.

“The only people that I have been able to see during these lockdowns are my daughter and her husband - they’ve been the only people allowed in my house because we’re a bubble. The vaccine will make a huge difference.”

For Tom Green, a 36-year-old GP trainee doing a six-month rotation in A+E at the Edinburgh Royal, receiving the Covid jab raises the chances that he will be able to see his family – including his nine-month-old niece for the first time.

He said: “Getting vaccinated is a no-brainer for me. I just don’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to have it.

“I think it is a really useful step in getting back to some form of normality. But enough people need to stick with all the measures that we are currently adhering to: social distancing and hand washing.

“Because of lockdown and all the restrictions, I have a nine-month-old niece in Nottingham who I still haven’t met. And my parents live down in Devon. So getting vaccinated will mean I can finally see my family again.”

The NHS has decades of experience in delivering large scale vaccination programmes and has already begun putting its extensive preparations into action to provide care and support to all those eligible for vaccination.

Offering Covid jabs is the best way to protect people from the virus because vaccines are carefully designed to prevent disease, rather than just treat the problem once people are already infected and unwell.

If enough people get vaccinated, individuals are protected from the harmful effects of Covid-19. The jab works just like any other vaccine by teaching the immune system how to defend itself against attack. 

To create a vaccine, the virus is weakened, or completely inactivated, meaning it will not cause disease. When this form of the virus is introduced to the immune system, it trains the body to recognise the virus, creating protective ‘antibodies’. These antibodies form the frontline defence against possible harm from Covid-19.

Adam Harbinson, 73, from Bangor in County Down, Northern Ireland said the main reason the vaccine gave him cause for optimism – “apart from the obvious benefit of protecting us from the dreaded disease – is that it infuses a sense of hope into an otherwise hopeless environment”.

Anuntaya Phetphakdee, 42, who was originally from Thailand but has lived in Abergavenny, Wales, for the last 20 years, said: “Receiving the vaccine is the only solution. It will mean that we can get back to work, my daughter can get back to school and I hope to be able to smile at people without a mask one day.”

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the government on which vaccines the UK should use and provide advice on who should be offered the vaccination first. 

They consider each vaccine and provide their advice to the government once detailed information on the characteristics and clinical properties of the approved vaccine becomes available.

For the Pfizer vaccine, which is already being rolled out in the UK, the JCVI have said that care home residents and their carers should be the first to receive the jab.

This group should be followed by all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers, then all those 75 years of age and over. 

In total there are nine priority groups that will determine how quickly the public is vaccinated, based on their clinical need.

Hormoz Ahmadzadeh, who is 60 and from Salford, gave his backing for the vaccine to help the most at risk first. 

“I’ve seen Covid’s impact through my work with marginalised people. Many of us felt helpless to do anything about the situation.

“The vaccine would allow for a fantastic boost for the most vulnerable, including people with mental health issues. And, of course, for me, my family and friends. To be able to do so many of the things we took for granted will be brilliant.”