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Reuters
Reuters
Health

Protection level and timing of early COVID vaccines still uncertain: UK minister

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary George Eustice walks outside Downing Street in London, Britain, September 30, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

It is likely that the first COVID-19 vaccines will be imperfect and it is still unclear when they will be ready and how much protection they will give, British environment minister George Eustice said on Wednesday.

Asked about an opinion piece by the head of the UK Vaccine's Taskforce that the first generation of COVID-19 vaccines "is likely to be imperfect" and that they "might not work for everyone", Eustice said he thought the analysis was "probably right".

"A vaccine will be the answer at some point, but it is too early to say precisely when that vaccine will come. I know there's some hope that there might something as quickly as Christmas, but that's not by any means a certainty," he told Sky News.

"Always with a vaccine, you don't know precisely what level of protection it will deliver... There's always a lot of doubt and uncertainty with vaccines."

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Sarah Young)

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