The Luddites are alive and well on here today Mups 
It is unusual for scientists to be so optimistic, at lunch time Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford said the announcement about the vaccine has been āāWarmly welcomed with scientists describing themselves as smiling āear to earā and some suggesting life could be back to normal by spring.
I am probably the first guy to say that, but I will say that with some confidence," said Sir John Bell,āā
As you say SG the first lot of vaccine will (rightly) go to front line staff .
Other vaccines are well on the way with an announcement expected 'āIn weeks rather than monthsāā according to Professor Bell.
I heard weeks ago about secret preparations for a mass roll out in some local areas as mentioned hereā¦
So I think we can all have cause for optimism :-).
Despite the wild optimism of some FMs here, many politicians and even some experts, I tend to agree with this lady:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-54869918
Dr Sophie Harman, global health expert at Queen Mary University London, says todayās news from Pfizer is āincredibly excitingā and could be a āmajor game-changerā in our response to Covid-19.
She adds: "However before we get too carried away we really have to be careful about safety and scale around the vaccine, so whilst we can go with confidence, I donāt think we can go back to normal by Christmas or the New Year as I am sure everyone would hope.
āThe other thing we have to think about a little bit is also who gets the vaccine and who gets the vaccine first. We know thereās a priority among front-line health workers which is quite right - but how does that actually become enacted in practice?
"I think we also need to think about how we build trust, both in the UK and round the world around vaccines. Before Covid-19 there was a growth of anti-vaccination, of anti-vaxxers, and we need to crush that quite quickly if people are going to see an uptake in the vaccine.*
"Finally, I would also say thereās a sort of tendency that when we get excited about vaccines is to think about vaccines as sort of silver bullet. And this cannot replace just the tried and tested methods of track and trace**, monitoring the outbreak, and changing our behaviour***.
āSo itās extremely exciting, very hopeful, but letās not take our eye off the ball of the very basics of how we respond to health crises.ā
- AFAIK, for COVID-19, 70% of the population need to be vaccinated in short order so that so-called āherd immunityā is achieved. In the UK, that would be around 40,000,000 people.
** As we know, the record of the governmentās private sector T,T & T is appalling, despite having cost Ā£12,000,000,000 - even āIncompetentā Harding admitted that the system was no āsilver bulletā.
** Again, as we know, many of the UKās population refuse to modify their behaviour and bend, or even break, the rules to suit themselves.
Other questions yet to be answered by ANY vaccine include how long does immunity last? does the vaccine work as well in high-risk elderly people?, does it stop you spreading the virus? or just from developing symptoms?
Good News!
Now, O.F.F
(old fogies first!) or OFF OFF (Over 50s forum + Old Fogies First)
Even BJ is cautious:
PM asks āare we at the beginning of the end?ā
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-54869918
Boris Johnson begins by saying that people are asking that ādoes the progress towards a vaccine made today mean we are at the beginning of the end to our troublesā.
āWe have cleared one significant hurdle but there are several more to go,ā he says.
But he adds if and when the vaccine is ready to be sued the UK is ātowards the front of the packā as it has already ordered 40 million doses.
There will be an NHS-led vaccine programme, Johnson says.
He adds he must stress that āthese are very, very early daysā and the distant toot of the scientific bugle is louder but still someway off.
No āMoonshotā in that statement ā¦ :!:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-54869918
The scientists on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation previously published a list of prioritisation of who should get a jab first, with care home residents and staff among those at the top.
The interim guidance says the order of priority should be:
[LIST]
[]Older adults in a care home and care home workers
[]All those aged 80 and over and health and social care workers, though they may move up the list
[]Anyone 75 years of age and over
[]People aged 70 and over
[]All those aged 65 and over
[]High-risk adults under 65 years of age
[]Moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age
[]All those aged 60 and over
[]All those 55 and over
[]All those aged 50 and over
[*]The rest of the population, with priority yet to be determined
[/LIST]
But the committee stressed this list was ānot considered definitiveā as more data is still being collected on at-risk groups.
The younger you are, the longer the wait - there are currently more than 11.9 million people aged 65 and over in the UK, with 3.2 million aged 80 and over and 1.6 million aged 85 and over.
Once they and the front-line staff have had their two shots the 40,000,000 first order will have disppeared ā¦ 
You were not very optimistic either Omah.
Of course not - my nameās not Mr Gullible ā¦
Even BJ agrees with me:
Boris Johnson being deliberately cautious
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-54869918
Despite todayās positive vaccine announcement, the PM struck a deliberately cautious tone. Boris Johnson stressed that news of an effective vaccine was not yet a solution.
Number 10 clearly doesnāt want the suggestion of a scientific breakthrough to be any sort of green light for people to flout lockdown rules at what he described as a critical moment.
The PM has been among the most optimistic ā perhaps hopeful - in the past about science providing the way out of this pandemic. But the message today was, āweāre not there yetā, calling instead for the public to keep their resolve.
This vaccine is great news. This news will give the nation the boost that it needs at the moment.
Boris, had to be careful in what he said, thatās why he stayed āon the wallā about it.
I agree Art 
Boris is constantly accused of āOver promising and under deliveringā so is being justifiably cautious and the last thing he needs now is some people failing to comply with the rulings that will help to keep R down and the health service running.
I canāt remember what news it was but I heard a woman this morning talking about the vaccine and she was really excited and telling us that it could be ready as soon as before Christmas, then this other woman came on pooh poohing her saying no way should she be telling us it may be ready for Christmas. I suppose weāll just have to wait it out and see when it happens, I hope the first woman is right.
Itās all very positive exciting news. To think we are nearing a time that we will be able to give and receive hugs again, go to the theatre again, go on holiday abroad again and so on, all those things weāve all really missed, Gawd I can feel myself welling up.
ITāS JUST SO BLOODY WELL EXCITING. Celebrate good times COME ON!
I dare to think I can see a light, come into the light Lion Queen! YEEEE BLOODY HARRRR
Iām not in any rush.
Iām not an antivaxxer but this, when they do start jabbing the masses, will still be in the experimental stages. There will be a number of competing companies and the best product may not be known for a long time yet.
I need a holiday but that may not happen in 2021.
yeah I get what you are saying, I donāt even know if I was able to have one if I would dare have one because itās so early stages. Itās a difficult one isnāt it. I think you are right about no holiday in 2021 sadly but Iām trying to keep positive. Horrible times we live in but at least we are alive eh.
but at least we are alive eh.
:hug:
Itās good news, no doubt about it ā¦ but the logistics involved will be a headache and thereās concerns that the new mutated strain found in minks, which is more resistant, will reduce its efficacy.
Nevertheless, everyone is desperate for good news, itās also something to look forward to in the event that thereās a third wave next year, late winter.
Iāll probably be amongst the 20% of the population they believe will refuse the offer of a vaccine.
I agree too, Meg.
I listened to most of the PMās broadcast at 5 pm, and thought the Army officer, and Prof. Van Tam (is that right?), spoke very well, especially the Professer, he explained things very slowly and clearly I thought.
They all explained over and over that they cannot guarantee anything for sure yet, which I thought was both fair and sensible as it is still in the experimental stages.
For heavenās sake, they canāt give all the answers and guarantees yet, as the vaccine is still being worked on, so what do people expect!
Who in their right mind is going to make wild promises before the work is trialled and tested sufficiently? Imagine how the media would love to shoot them down if they promised things they couldnāt fulfill!
I felt they all did their best to keep people in touch with the latest news, and give us hope.
BTW, they also said quite openly, that a vaccine would probably be too late for this second wave, but hopefully by next spring it could be more widely offered.
I thought that was both honest, and fair because they didnāt make any false promises to be pulled apart later.
Good post Mups, I thought exactly the same as you.
They didnāt commit themselves but you could see this development meant a lot to them.
Usually BJ but heās been made to look a fool with his previous āpromisesā:
Boris Johnson has claimed the UK will have a āworld-beating" system to test, track and trace for coronavirus up and running by 1 June.
Under Operation Moonshot, Boris Johnson hopes to have millions of coronavirus tests processed daily and yield results within 15 minutes.
The government plans an ambitious mass testing programme, codenamed Operation Moonshot, which aims to conduct up to 10 million Covid-19 tests a day by early 2021.
As we know, the governmentās Ā£12,000,000,000 T, T & T system has been a complete disaster from the start - even yesterday, less than 300,000 tests were completed ā¦
Boris Johnson āconfidentā UK will have āas normal a Christmas as possibleā
The prime minister added that if people follow rules he has āno doubtā that heāll be able to āget things open before Christmas as wellā.
Well, Xmas is only 6 weeks away ā¦ 
Indeed ā¦ :!:
āWhat I can say is that if and when this vaccine is approved, we, in this country, will be ready to start using it,ā Mr Johnson said. āEarlier this year (!) the UK government ordered 40m doses of the Pfizer vaccine ā enough for about a third of the population (20m), since you need two doses each. That puts us towards the front of the international pack (sic) on a per capita basis ā and I should add weāve ordered over 300m doses from 5 other vaccine candidates* as well. If the Pfizer vaccine passes all the rigorous safety checks and is proved to be effective then we will begin a UK-wide NHS led programme of vaccine distribution.ā
- What other vaccines are being developed?
More results, from other teams working on advanced trials of other vaccines, are expected in the coming weeks and months.
There are 10 more vaccines in the final stage of testing,
The leading contenders are:
[LIST]
[]The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK
[]Moderna in the US
[]CanSino with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology in China
[]Gamaleya Research Institute in Russia
[]Janssen
[]Beijing Institute of Biological Products and Sinopharm in China
[]Sinovac and Instituto Butantan in Brazil
[]Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and Sinopharm in China
[*]Novavax in the US
[/LIST]