Britain may still need a circuit breaker lockdown in January or February despite the roll-out of Pfizer’s 95% beginning next week, top scientist warns

Britain may still face a circuit breaker lockdown in January or February despite the mass roll-out of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, a top scientist has warned. Professor Liam Smeeth, an epidemiology and public health expert at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, issued his caution as Britain today made one of 2020’s biggest breakthroughs and announced vaccination will start next week. Casting a shadow over re-ignited hopes of a return to normality, he added that the virus would be with us ‘for the forseeable future – and maybe forever’. ‘We are very unlikely to reach the situation we are in with smallpox (gone), polio (almost gone), or measles (controlled in populations with high enough vaccine coverage),’ he said. Politicians and scientists heralded it a ‘historic day’ after regulators gave the green light to Pfizer’s vaccine, which clinical trials suggest is up to 95 per cent protective against Covid-19. Boris Johnson and his scientists today warned that the vaccine success does not mean lockdowns and social distancing will end, and they must continue for months. Scientists and ministers grappled for weeks over whether to have a two-week ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown during the autumn, with experts calling for one to be tacked… Read full this story

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