The Moderna vaccine will be administered in England from mid-April, deputy chief medical officer for England Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said.
He told the briefing: “We do expect to have quantities of Moderna beginning to be deployed from mid-April in England.
“The UK has placed orders with Janssen, we do not yet have certainty on the timing of delivery, but that vaccine could become available over the summer.”
Boris Johnson thanked the experts for their work on the AstraZeneca vaccine and for explaining “the potential for extremely rare side effects”.
The Prime Minister said: “As the regulators have said, this vaccine is safe, effective and has already saved thousands of lives – and the vast majority of people should continue to take it when offered.
“We will follow today’s updated advice, which should allow people of all ages to continue to have full confidence in vaccines, helping us save lives and cautiously return towards normality.”
Chairman of the Committee on Human Medicines Sir Munir Pirmohamed said that experts currently “do not have any evidence to say that either men or women are more likely” to be affected by the rare side effect.
Asked if women could be at higher risk than men, he told a press conference: “Of the 79 cases, 51 were in women, and 28 were in men.
“The numbers are quite small, and that may reflect actually who is getting the vaccine, because many of the healthcare workers for example are women.
“But if you actually look at the incidence rate according to the number of vaccines administered, there is actually no difference between men and women.”
Sir Munir said that experts would continue to monitor any gender predilection to developing this side effect, adding: “But at the moment, we do not have any evidence to say that either men or women are more likely to get this.”
