A second vaccine against Covid-19 has been approved by the UK less than a year since the first outbreak of the deadly pandemic.
The approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine represents one more step towards the immunisation of Brits following the approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab earlier in December.
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.
Here is all you need to know about the vaccine, including when and how it will be rolled out and who will be the first to get it.
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How much of the vaccine will the UK receive?
The Government has secured 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine.
The initial doses of the Oxford jab are due to be dispatched from Germany, with a large proportion then manufactured in the UK.
There will be four million doses available post authorisation and tens of millions of doses in the first quarter of next year.
A specific schedule is difficult to establish as batches need to be quality approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
How and when will the vaccine be rolled out?
There is considerably less uncertainty over the rollout of the Oxford vaccine, with the scene having largely been set earlier in December with the Pfizer/BioNtech jab.
The Oxford vaccine can be stored at fridge temperature for at least six months so it is hoped the logistics of administering it will be easier.
AstraZeneca said it was building up a manufacturing capacity of up to 3 billion doses worldwide next year, and aims to supply the UK with millions of doses in the first quarter in 2021.
It is expected that people could start receiving the vaccine from this Monday.
Now there are more vaccines, does this mean a wider range of people can be vaccinated?
All of the people at the top of the priority list created by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have not yet been vaccinated.
Therefore vaccinators will continue to work their way through the list.
It is hoped more people in care homes will be reached with the rollout of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
The JCVI's guidance is that as many people in at-risk groups are given the first dose of the vaccine, rather than giving the two doses as shortest time possible. People will then receive their second dose within 12 weeks from the first.
The vaccine will be distributed to people in the order below:
1. Older adults in a care home and care home workers
2. All those who are 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers
3. All those who are 75 years of age and over
4. All those who are 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals, excluding pregnant women and those under 18 years of age
5. All those who are 65 years of age and over
6. Individuals aged 16 to 64 years with underlying health conditions
7. All those aged 60 and over
8. All those aged 55 and over
9. All those aged 50 and over
Don't vaccines take a long time to produce?
In the past it has taken years, sometimes decades, to produce a vaccine.
Traditionally, vaccine development includes various processes, including design and development stages followed by clinical trials - which in themselves need approval before they even begin.
But in the trials for a Covid-19 vaccine, things look slightly different. A process which usually takes years has been condensed to months.
While the early design and development stages look similar, the clinical trial phases overlap, instead of taking place sequentially.
And pharmaceutical firms have begun manufacturing before final approval has been granted - taking on the risk that they may be forced to scrap their work.
The new way of working means that regulators around the world can start to look at scientific data earlier than they traditionally would do.
Is the Oxford vaccine being manufactured in the UK?
While there are some doses coming from Europe in the very first instance, the majority will be provided from the UK supply chain.
Aren't there other vaccines?
Yes. As well as the Pfizer vaccine which has an efficacy of 95%, there are a number of other jabs the UK has secured doses of.
Oxford data indicates the vaccine has 62.1% efficacy when one full dose is given followed by another full dose, but when people were given a half dose followed by a full dose at least a month later, its efficacy rose to 90%.
The combined analysis from both dosing regimes resulted in an average efficacy of 70.4%.
Final results from the trials of Moderna's vaccine suggest it has 94.1% efficacy, and 100% efficacy against severe Covid-19.
Which jab is best?
The early contenders all have high efficacy rates, but researchers say it is difficult to make direct comparisons because it is not yet known exactly what everyone is measuring in the trials.
How many doses has the UK secured?
The UK has secured access to:
- 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine
- 60 million doses of the Novavax vaccine
- Some 30 million doses from Janssen
- 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - the first agreement the firms signed with any government
- 60 million doses of a vaccine being developed by Valneva
- 60 million doses of protein adjuvant vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi Pasteur
- Seven million doses of the jab on offer from Moderna in the US
- What do they cost?
How do we know the vaccines are safe?
Researchers reported their trials do not suggest any significant safety concerns.
June Raine, head of the MHRA, said "no corners have been cut" in examining whether the vaccine is both safe and effective.
She said the vaccine would help save tens of thousands of lives before adding: "The safety of the public always comes first.
"The MHRA's approval has been reached following a thorough and scientifically rigorous review of all the evidence of safety, quality and effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca."
This was backed by different experts on the subject, including Prof Arne Akbar, President of the British Society for Immunology, who said the MHRA will have "carefully scrutinised" the vaccine to make sure it is safe and effective.
"Although development of this vaccine has occurred quickly, all the same rigorous safety standards and checks have still been carried out," the Science Media Centre quoted him saying.
Prof Akbar pointed to how evidence of such has already been in the public domain since December through a paper in The Lancet.
"From the data presented in that paper, the vaccine showed a good safety profile and no individual who received the vaccine subsequently suffered from severe COVID-19," he said.
Will people get a choice about which vaccine they are given?
As things stand the vaccines will be rolled out as and when they become available.
No announcement has been made on whether one might be given priority over another as they become ready on a mass scale.
People are not expected to be able to choose which jab they want to receive.
Can pregnant woman take the jab?
Both the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines can be given to pregnant women and breastfeeding mums subject to medical advice, experts at Downing Street have said.
Initial advice recommended pregnant and breastfeeding mums not to have the Pfizer jab, but Dr Raine said during a press conference this morning that such advice had been driven by "an initial lack of evidence on a precautionary basis".
"But now that we have reviewed further data that has become available, the Commission on Human Medicines has advised that the vaccine can be considered for use in pregnancy when the potential benefits outweigh the risks, following an individual discussion with every woman," she said.
"And as the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca is the same, women should always be discussing benefits and risks of having the vaccine with their health professional, reaching a decision together based on individual circumstances, and women who are breastfeeding can now also be given the vaccine, subject to that individual discussion."
What about those with allergies?
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."
Dr Raine said the regulator has been conducting a "rolling review" of the vaccine as its teams of clinicians and scientists "very carefully and methodically and rigorously reviewed all the data".
She added they worked "round the clock, looking at all the tests and trials - even over holiday periods - no corners, whatsoever, have been cut."
