Recent news of a coronavirus vaccine has been circulating this week with talks of a ‘major breakthrough’ in the vaccines development. 

Health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said that people in the UK are likely to be among the first in the world to receive a coronavirus jab. Hancock has asked the NHS to deploy the vaccine from the start of December. 

The treatment is being developed by Pzifer and BioNTech has been concluded to be 90% effective in preventing people from getting the virus. Scientists have stated that there will be many more challenges ahead but the recent development is a huge breakthrough and have suggested life could “return to normal” by spring. 

How effective will it be?

An effective vaccine can put an end to the restrictions that are imposed on our daily lives and allow us to return to a world before covid-19. However, the current data is not final and can change when the full results are analysed. 

When will it be available? 

There will only be a limited number of vaccines available for this year with around 10 million and 30 million ordered for the start of 2021.

Will there be any problems?

It’s hard to say if there will be any problems as of now and it can’t be said that it may affect high- risk elderly people differently.

A major question is “how long will immunity last?”, it could take months or even years to find out the answer. 

Ultimately, it’s important to remember that nothing is 100% safe, including common medicines such as paracetamol.