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The British deputy chief medical officer said he will encourage his mother to get a COVID-19 vaccine while assuring Brits that safety standards will not be compromised in the face of the public health emergency.
Professor Jonathan Van Tam, speaking at a Downing Street press conference, stressed that the regular phase of vaccine development and approval has been accelerated due to the coronavirus crisis.
This included overlapping the three phases of clinical trials and pharmaceutical companies that started production before final approval was granted, leaving them open to the risk that their work may have to be scrapped.
However, Prof Van Tam stressed that “the standards are not lower just because it is a public health emergency”.
Dr. June Raine, Chief Executive Officer of the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency, also committed to: a COVID-19 the vaccine would be “approved only once it has met robust standards of efficacy, safety and quality.”
US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its BioNTech vaccine partner this week released first results suggesting their jab was 90% effective. to protect people from COVID-19.
Asked if he would be ready to be among the first people to be vaccinated, Prof Van Tam said: “If I could, rightly and morally, be in the front row, I would.
“Because I absolutely trust the MHRA’s judgment on safety and efficacy.
“But clearly that’s not fair: we need to target the highest risk individuals in society and that’s how it should be.
“If I could be in the front row, I would be.
“But let me tell you this, I think the ‘mom test’ is very important here.
“My mom is 78, she will soon be 79, and I already told her ‘mom, make sure when you call you are ready, be ready to take this back, this is very important to you because of your age’.”
Nursing homes, the NHS and social care personnel, and therefore the elderly, will have priority for vaccination.
And the prof. Van Tam said people shouldn’t be able to skip the line by privately paying for a vaccine.
“One of the things I like about the NHS is that it’s there for everyone, regardless of their level of wealth or who they are in society,” he said.
“This is a very important principle for me, personally.”
Prof Van Tam added that deciding such an issue would be “a ministerial decision”, but added: “I am giving you my opinion as a physician that I think these vaccines should be prioritized to those who need them, not those who need them. who can afford it, pay them privately. “
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