PM Boris Johnson warns restrictions likely to remain at least until February despite Covid-19 vaccine announcement
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the country that “T’is the season to be jolly careful” despite major breakthroughs in producing vaccines in the last two weeks.
He made the comment during a special address to the nation this evening in what was a bid to rein-in expectations that new vaccines offered an immediate opportunity to relax Covid restrictions.
Earlier today, it was announced that the UK's Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has proved highly effective in clinical trials though Mr Johnson warned that more tests are yet to be done.
As well as being relatively cheap it can also be stored at fridge temperature making it accessible and reliable for countries that lack the infrastructure to keep the other two vaccines stored at subzero temperatures.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that Christmas would not be the time to let Covid “rip” and called on Britons to “squeeze the disease” through a new range of community testing.
That is something that could also be made available in Scotland as the majority of Covid tests are still being provided by the UK rather than Scottish government at sites up and down the country.
New plans about what restrictions will be in place over the festive season are set to be revealed this week in conjunction with the devolved administrations.
Mr Johnson said: “It seems that almost every week there is some new scientific breakthrough to help us beat Covid, last week it was good news from Pfizer-BioNTech and then Moderna, then this morning we heard that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been highly effective in clinical trials.
“There are more tests to be done but the signs are that this vaccine, financed partly by British taxpayers, and working in partnership with a great British company could be affordable, easy to use and highly effective.
“We have ordered 100 million doses and thanks to the vaccine task force we have secured 350 million doses of potential vaccines of all kinds but we are not out of the woods yet.
“Even if the vaccines are approved and even if the production timetables are met, and notoriously fall behind, it will be months before we can be sure that we have inoculated everyone that needs a vaccine.
“Those months will be hard, they will be cold, they include January and February, when the NHS is under its greatest pressure so that is why when we come out of lockdown next week we cannot throw away the gains we have made.
“We will be using the new and exciting possibilities of community testing as they have done in Liverpool and there will be a clear incentive for everyone areas where virus prevalence is high to get one of these rapid turnaround tests.
“Do your best for the community to help to squeeze the disease.
“Now I know that many of us want and need Christmas with our families but now is not the time to let the virus rip for the sake of Christmas parties. T’is the season to be jolly but it is also the season to be jolly careful, especially with elderly relatives.
“We will be working with the devolved administrations, we will be setting out shortly how we want to get the balance right and we will be setting that out later this week.”
