Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he doesn’t think allowing families to gather at Christmas will lead to more coronavirus deaths.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Mr Hancock said there needs to be a balance between people wanting to see their families at Christmas and keeping people safe.
But when asked by host Piers Morgan if he thinks a "big, jolly five-day Christmas knees up" could put the UK back in terms of infection rates and deaths, Mr Hancock replied: "Well, I don't think it will do that."
"We haven't finally agreed a set of rules around Christmas, but I essentially agree that it needs to be careful, it needs to be balanced," the Health Secretary added.
"We're trying to put in place an agreement across the whole of the UK, because so many people live in different parts of the UK and typically travel at Christmas.
"But, there's balance between people wanting to see their families at Christmas and at the same time, keeping people safe. Because, whilst the vaccine is now very much in prospect, it will take a few months to roll it out."
Oxford University said that interim analysis from its phase three vaccine trial shows that their vaccine is 70% effective when combined in two doses.
But when administered at a half dose and then a full dose the vaccine can be up to 90 per cent effective, the scientists said.
The result compares with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which were recently shown to be 95% and 94.5% effective respectively.
Mr Hancock said manufacturing of the AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccine had already begun in anticipation of positive results and the plan was to start vaccinating people before Christmas.
However, most people won't receive the vaccine until early next year.
"The bulk of the roll out will be in the new year, even if we get the approvals rapidly from the regulator," Mr Hancock told Good Morning Britain viewers.
"So, we've got to all stick by the rules and keep doing the things we know we need to do - the social distancing, the basics of hands, face and space.
"We've got to keep doing that, to keep people safe."
