For those that have missed it, a quick update of yesterday’s news on the Covid-19 vaccine, as a follow-up to my post of yesterday.

First of all the Guardian expands on the huge logistical problems distributing a vaccine: Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine poses global logistics challenge. The scale of the operations required is just mind-boggling.

Secondly the Guardian also reports that GP clinics are expected to administer 975 injections a week in 12-hour days, 7 days a week – roughly one every 5 minutes. (That’s 975 per clinic, there will be one clinic per area.)

The same Guardian piece reports Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, sounding some good words of caution in the House of Commons:

[T]he best way to liberate and to get life closer to normal is a vaccine … [but] … We do not have a vaccine yet but we are one step closer … There are many steps still to take. The full safety data is not yet available and our strong and independent regulator, the MHRA, will not approve a vaccine until it is clinically safe. And until it’s rolled out we won’t know how long the effect lasts for or its impact, not just on keeping people safe, but also on reducing transmission.

(One fly in that ointment is that the MHRA is not entirely independent, as it’s a government funded body.)

In other news former Prime Minister, Sir John Major, that as a result of the stupidity and ineptitude of the current government, the outlook for next year is bleak:

It now seems that on 1 January next year, Brexit may be even more brutal than anyone expected.