Coronavirus vaccine advice to people with severe allergies has changed after today's approval of the Oxford jab.
People with a history of "significant" allergic reactions to medicines, food or vaccines were advised they should not receive the Pfizer vaccine when it was approved earlier this month.
However, professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chairman of the Commission on Human Medicines expert working group on Covid-19 vaccines, gave updated advice for those with allergies following the approval of the Oxford vaccine today.
He said: "We've come to the recommendation people with a known history of reacting to any specific ingredients of vaccines should not have it, but people with allergies to other medicines or food can have the vaccine."
Outlining how the vaccine would be administered, he added: "What we are approving is that two standard doses should be given. They should be given at an interval of between four to 12 weeks.
"We also looked at the half-dose regimen, which has been publicised quite widely, but we felt that the results were not borne out by the full analysis.
"We've come to the decision of an interval of between four to 12 weeks, based on the data that was presented to us.
"Because of the design of the trial, some people got second doses at different time intervals. This allowed an analysis of the effectiveness of the vaccine if you were to be able to delay between four to 12 weeks.
"This showed that the effectiveness was high, up to 80%, when there was a three-month interval between the first and second doses, which is the reason for our recommendation."
Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said the regulator has been conducting a "rolling review" of the vaccine.
She said: "Our teams of scientists and clinicians have very carefully and methodically and rigorously reviewed all the data on safety, on effectiveness, and on quality as soon as they have become available, and have done so round the clock, looking at all the tests and trials - even over holiday periods - no corners, whatsoever, have been cut."
She set out the timeline of the regulators' work going back six months, adding: "Most recently, our expert clinicians and scientists have reviewed and agreed the overall benefit risk and the prescribing information, which is being provided to all healthcare professionals and for everyone about having the vaccine, so everyone can be very clear and confident and understand what's involved to help those informed decisions together with your health care professional.
"Our National Institute for Biological Standards and Control has been undertaking the independent laboratory testing, so that we can make sure that every single batch meets the same standards of safety and quality.
"And the first batch of Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca was released last night, following yesterday's vaccine approval."
The government has already ordered 100 million doses which will be enough for 50 million people as, like the Pfizer vaccine, the Oxford jab requires two doses per person for it to be most effective.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was "fantastic news" and confirmed that the roll out would begin on January 4.
It comes as 15 million more people face plunging into stricter lockdown rules while senior doctors warned hospitals were "stretched to the limit" as admissions are higher than during the first peak of the pandemic.
Since Margaret Keenan became the first in the world to get that jab outside of a clinical trial, more than 600,000 people have received the Pfizer jab in the UK.
But the new vaccine is easier to roll out, meaning it could lead to mass immunisation and Brits resurfacing from lockdown as soon as February.
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