Coronavirus vaccine to be ready in early 2021 - Sage expert

Jeremy Farrar, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) predicts a Covid vaccine will be ready within the first three months of 2021.

The expert said the UK faces a 'very, very difficult' period over the next three to six months, reports Daily Mail.

But the Wellcome Trust director said there is 'light at the end of the tunnel', as he believes a Covid-19 vaccine and effective treatment will be ready in the first quarter of 2021.

It comes as England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam has said the vaccine being prepared at Oxford University could be ready by December.

Meanwhile, drug giant Pfizer has released a video showing that production of their vaccine is well under way at the manufacturing plant in Belgium. 

Prof Farrar told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday a circuit-breaker national lockdown is now needed, claiming there could currently be 50,000 coronavirus cases per day across the UK.

He said: 'The ONS (Office for National Statistics) survey, which is the best data in the country at the moment, shows that 27,000 people are getting this infection every day. But that was until the 10th of October.

'Today it will be over 50,000, just as the CMO (England's chief medical officer) Chris Whitty and (the Government's chief scientific adviser) Sir Patrick Vallance suggested some three weeks ago.

'It would be at 50,000 new cases across the country every single day, and that's almost exactly where we are.'

Asked about Christmas, Prof Farrar said he does not believe a vaccine will be ready in time for the festive period.

He added: 'Christmas will be tough this year. I don't think it's going to be the usual celebration it is and all families coming together, I'm afraid.

'I think we have to be honest and realistic and say that we are in for three to six months of a very, very difficult period.

'The temperatures drop, we are all indoors more often, we have the other infections that come this time of year.

'It's much better for us to be upfront and honest now, and say we are in for a really difficult time, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.'

Prof Farrar said a short national lockdown known as a circuit-breaker is needed to reduce transmission rates, as previously recommended by Sage last month.

He said the 'best time' to have introduced the temporary lockdown would have been around September 20, but added 'it was never too late'.

He said: 'The second best time to do this is now, and the worst time to do this is at the end of November when things would have really got considerably worse.

'So it's never too late, it's better to do it now than in a month's time.'

In regard to a potential vaccine and effective treatments, Prof Farrar said he believes they are 'three to six months away'.

Meanwhile, new footage has emerged which shows the vaccine that could end the Covid misery engulfing the planet.

Drug giant Pfizer has already manufactured 'several hundred thousand doses' of the jab at its plant in Puurs, Belgium, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

They are being stockpiled ready to be rolled out worldwide if clinical trials are a success, and regulators deem it safe and effective.

The US giant hopes to make 100 million doses available this year, of which 40 million are destined for the UK – a figure that will be dwarfed by the 1.3 billion jabs the company aims to manufacture in 2021. 

Every patient who receives the vaccine will need two doses.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday today, Pfizer UK boss Ben Osborn says: 'It was great to see the first vial coming off the manufacturing line. 

'It just brought a tremendous smile to my face to see all of this work actually result in a product.' 

Pfizer, which is working with Germany's BioNTech, is currently running a trial on 44,000 people, and last week said it plans to apply for emergency US approval of its vaccine in November.  

That puts Pfizer in pole position in the race to launch a Covid vaccine.

Separately, Osborn said Pfizer's laboratory in Sandwich, Kent, has unearthed drugs that could provide a potential cure for Covid-19. 

It comes as it was today reported that the NHS is preparing to introduce a coronavirus vaccine soon after Christmas.

The UK's deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, reportedly told MPs last week that stage three trials of the vaccine created at Oxford University, which is being produced by Astra Zeneca, could be rolled-out in December, reports the Sunday Times.  

According to the paper, he said: 'We aren't light years away from it. It isn't a totally unrealistic suggestion that we could deploy a vaccine soon after Christmas. 

'That would have a significant impact on hospital admissions and deaths.' 

Thousands of NHS staff are to undergo training to administer a vaccine before the end of the year, the paper adds.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is under growing pressure from furious Tory grandees to set out a 'clear end date' for local lockdowns.

Senior Conservative Party figures have warned the Prime Minister he must announce a 'strategy for returning life to normal' as they said an indefinite cycle of localised shutdowns is not acceptable and would wreck the economy.