Boris Johnson did not rule out that the South African variant could lead to a delay in easing restrictions if it reduces the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine’s effect on transmissibility.
Pressed on whether there could be a delay to easing restrictions if the jab is less effective at reducing transmission of the South African variant, he said: “We think that all the vaccines that we’re using, both the vaccines that we’re currently using, are effective in stopping serious disease and death.
“We also think, particularly in the case of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, that there is good evidence that it is stopping transmission as well, I think 67% reduction in transmission with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
“They remain of massive benefit to our country and to the population as we go through the pandemic and I’ve no doubt that vaccines generally are going to offer a way out.
“With every day that goes by you can see that medicine is slowly getting the upper hand over the disease.”
Mr Johnson has insisted that all vaccines being used provide a “high degree of protection against serious illness and death” amid concerns over the South African variant’s effect on the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.
During a visit to a coronavirus test manufacturing facility in Derby, the Prime Minister told reporters: “We’re very confident in all the vaccines that we’re using. And I think it’s important for people to bear in mind that all of them, we think, are effective in delivering a high degree of protection against serious illness and death, which is the most important thing.
“We will be continuing to study the results, the effectiveness of the vaccine rollout, and that’s going very, very fast indeed, and we will be looking at ways in which the population is starting to respond to the vaccines as we prepare to say what we’re going to do in the week of the 22nd and what kind of roadmap we want to lay out.”
