Dr June Raine, chief executive of British regulator the MHRA, also gives some updates on its advice on the first vaccine that was approved in the UK – the Pfizer jab.

She says the MHRA now says the vaccine can now be considered for use by pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding when the potential benefits outweigh the risks.

Addressing people with allergies, she says there is growing evidence that the risk is minimal and anyone with allergy to food or any other vaccine can have it. However, she stresses that people with allergies to any of the ingredients in the Pfizer vaccine shouldn’t receive it.

She also says that the regulator is advising the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine comes at least 21 days after the first dose, rather than exactly 21 days after, allowing for a potentially longer interval between the two vaccines.

The chair of Commission on Human Medicine Expert Working Group, Sir Munir Pirmohamed, tells the Downing Street briefing that the second dose of the vaccine should be given four to 12 weeks after the first.

He said “many hours of work” went into the decision to approve the vaccine, and that his group looked at the data “in relation to the safety, effectiveness and quality” of the vaccine.

He said people with allergies to ingredients in the vaccine shouldn't have it.

Dr June Raine says no "corners have been cut" in approving the Oxford vaccine.

She says all the data on safety, effectiveness and quality has been reviewed as soon as it has become available and have done so "around the clock".

She says the first batch "was released last night" following yesterday's vaccine approval.

Back to the Downing Street technical briefing on the Pfizer/BioTech vaccine.

Dr June Raine, chief executive of British regulator the MHRA, says the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for people aged over 18, with two standard doses, four to 12 weeks apart.

She says the MHRA approval follows a "thorough review", adding that we all know we’re facing one of the "biggest threats to health" around the world and the UK regulator takes this very seriously.

She say vaccines such as the Oxford one will have "the potential to save many lives" and see us come through the pandemic.

More on the statement from Education Secretary Gavin Williamson which is expected later.

We're told he will be speaking about schools returning in January after 3.30pm in the Commons - but the exact timing depends on the Brexit debate and other business in the house today.

A Downing Street technical briefing on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine announcement has just started.

We'll be hearing from Dr June Raine, chief executive of British regulator the MHRA, Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chair of the Commission on Human Medicine Expert Working Group and Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises UK health departments.

We'll bring you updates.

Image source, PA Media

There needs to be a "step change" in distribution of the vaccine in the UK, according to the British Medical Association council chairman, Dr Chaand Nagpaul.

"With infections spreading rapidly across the country, and with record numbers of Covid-19 patients now in hospital, piling pressure on the health service like never before, the approval of another safe, effective vaccine is welcome news for doctors and the public alike," he said.

He said it was crucial for supplies of the vaccine to be given to as many GP practice sites and hospital hubs as possible - as quickly as possible - so that vaccinations can begin "en masse".

"With 100 million doses of this vaccine already ordered we need to see a step change in distribution so that doctors can protect their patients and communities, beginning with those most at risk, and crucially this must include health and social care workers as they confront the virus on the front line," he said.

"While this vaccine may not have the same logistical hurdles as those associated with the Pfizer jab, the task of vaccinating such large numbers of patients in a short space of time is a huge challenge."

He added that doctors involved wanted to get on with the rollout but they needed support and investment.

As the global race to produce a Covid-19 vaccine continues, China appears to have made huge strides, with vaccines from two front-runners already making their way abroad.

One of those is being produced by the Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac. So how does it compare to those being developed elsewhere?

On paper, one of Sinovac's main advantages is that it can be stored in a standard refrigerator at 2-8 degrees Celsius, like the Oxford vaccine developed in the UK, which is made from a genetically engineered virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees.

Two vaccines have been approved for use in the US - Moderna's vaccine needs to be stored at -20C and Pfizer's vaccine at -70C.

It means that both Sinovac and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are a lot more useful to developing countries which might not be able to store large amounts of vaccine at such low temperatures.

Sinovac has been approved for emergency use in high-risk groups in China since July. But it's hard to say how effective it is at this point in time.

According to scientific journal The Lancet, we currently only have information from the first and second phase trials of CoronaVac., external

Find out more about China's vaccines here.

Image source, University of Oxford

Prof Sarah Gilbert, the woman who designed the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, said it was a day to celebrate.

"Now that the first authorisation of use of the vaccine outside of clinical trials has been granted we still have more to do, and will continue to provide more data to multiple regulatory authorities, until we are able to see the vaccine being used to save lives around the world," she said.

"This is a day for the team developing the vaccine to celebrate, after a year of extremely hard work under difficult circumstances."

Find out more about how Prof Gilbert got to work quickly on a coronavirus vaccine in January after decades of research.

The UK's Covid immunisation programme is set for a massive expansion following the approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Here’s a quick look at how vaccines are determined to be safe:

• Safety trials begin in the lab, with tests and research on cells and animals, before moving on to human studies
• As long as the safety data from the labs is good, scientists can check that the vaccine or treatment is effective too. That means tests on large numbers of volunteers

• Approval is only given in the UK if the regulator, the MHRA, is happy that a vaccine is both safe and effective
• Checks continue after approval to make sure there are no further side effects or long-term risks
• Independent experts on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation decide how best to use a vaccine and who should get it

Read more on this from BBC health editor Michelle Roberts

Image source, PA Media

Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Robin Swann has joined other UK health ministers in welcoming the approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

He said deployment of the vaccine is expected to begin in Northern Ireland next week.

Swann also confirmed that 33,683 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - the first to receive UK approval - have been administered to care home residents and front line health staff in Northern Ireland.

He added that vaccinations have been carried out in 80% of care homes in Northern Ireland, which he said was a "significant achievement".

Read more here

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine "a triumph" for British science.

"We will now move to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible," he added.

But when will you be eligible for the vaccine? Find out here.

Image source, Getty Images

Care home groups have welcomed the news that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will begin being rolled out in the UK from next week.

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group, which represents more than 200 care providers, said: "After the shocking figures released yesterday of the massive rise in infections, this gives us much hope.

"This should mean that the mass rollout of the vaccinations can now begin in earnest to those residents and all vulnerable people - particularly those in care homes and the staff that care for them - as a priority."

On Tuesday, a record number of cases was reported in the UK for the second day running. There were 53,135 new Covid cases were recorded, external and 414 more deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

Prof Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said: "With community transmission on the increase, it is all the more important that we learn lessons from the first wave and focus on protecting those living and working in care homes."

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored in a standard fridge - unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech jab which needs ultra cold storage at minus 70C.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed care home residents would be among the first rollout of the second vaccine, starting next week.

He told BBC Breakfast: "Those (temperature) limitations aren't there for this Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine so we can get out and vaccinate people who live in care homes, who of course are some of the most vulnerable to this disease."

Image source, PA Media

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says the approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine marks "much needed good news on the Covid front".

"We've still got some difficult winter weeks ahead - but the light at the end of the tunnel just got a lot brighter. Let's stick with it now - Spring will bring better times," she tweeted.

Scotland's interim deputy chief medical officer Dave Caesar told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme that rollout of the vaccine would begin in the next week or two.

"There are still some details to work out that we'll hear more about through today… and some of those details will then define" the exact timings, he said.

"We've got an army of folks who are standing by to… get the appropriate training, which is really important in delivering a new treatment, and then we are ready to deploy this vaccine across Scotland."

Asked when doses are expected to arrive in Scotland, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said “as soon as the first delivery comes, we will get our share of that based on population, as has happened with the Pfizer vaccine.”

Image source, PA Media

Following the news that the Oxford University vaccine has been approved for use in the UK, here’s a quick look at how it works:

• It is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (known as an adenovirus) from chimpanzees. It has been modified to look more like coronavirus - although it can't cause illness
• When the vaccine is injected into a patient, it prompts the immune system to start making antibodies and primes it to attack any coronavirus infection

• Unlike Pfizer's jab - which has to be kept at an extremely cold temperature (minus 70C) - the Oxford vaccine can be stored in a normal fridge. This makes it much easier to distribute

Read the full story here

The rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine across Wales will begin next week, the Welsh government has said.

First Minister Mark Drakeford tweeted, external that he was "very pleased" the second vaccine had been approved in the UK, adding that more than 25,000 doses of the first vaccine - the Pfizer jab - had already been administered in Wales.

Wales is set to receive its population share of the UK's 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine over the next weeks and months.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: "We understand there are high expectations and excitement at the arrival of a second vaccine.

"However, it will take time to reach everyone as this is not an instant fix. We won't receive all the doses at once and we have to be realistic about the scale and pace of delivery when we are vaccinating the entire adult population.

He added that he would be "delighted" if there was population coverage by Easter, but said he did not want to "give out false hope".

Fergus Walsh
Medical editor

This is a hugely significant moment in the long battle against Covid-19.

Approval of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine means that immunisation can be dramatically speeded up across the UK.

Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, it does not need to be transported at minus 70 degrees. This will make it far easier to get the vaccine to every part of the country, especially care homes.

Several million doses are ready to be handed over to the NHS with millions more planned in the coming weeks.

Large scale trials showed it was around 70% effective at protecting against Covid-19 which is better than most flu vaccines.

Crucially, no-one who received at least one dose of the vaccine was hospitalised with Covid.

The vaccine, which costs around £3 a dose, is also far cheaper than Pfizer's, and will play a vital role in global immunisation.

AstraZeneca says it hopes to produce three billion doses in 2021.

Read more here

Image source, Getty Images

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the government strategy during the pandemic has been to protect education "as much as possible" but he adds that the new coronavirus variant makes it much easier for the virus to spread.

A staggered return to secondary schools in England is planned, with exam years returning next week but the majority of pupils beginning the term studying remotely.

Hancock told Radio 4’s Today programme that "we’re going to protect education as much as we can", adding that Education Secretary Gavin Williamson would be setting out more details later.

Asked whether secondary schools students might not return as planned next week, he said: "I don’t want to steal his thunder."

Image source, PA Media

AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot has told the BBC’s Today programme that the first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will likely be shipped today or tomorrow, ahead of next week’s rollout.

He said the approval of the vaccine marks the "culmination of months of effort by thousands of people across the world", and the beginning of the "challenging exercise" of vaccinating millions of people.

"As you can imagine it is a massive logistical effort to inject so many people," he said.

But he added: "We’re going to be able to inject a lot of people with one dose very quickly and provide them with a reasonably good level of protection until they get the second dose two to three months later."

We're now hearing more from the UK's Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who's been speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He says he won't set a target on how many people will be vaccinated a week.

However, he added: "What I can tell you is whereas previously I've said that I hope we can be out of this by the spring, I've now got a very high degree of confidence that we can be out of this by the spring."

However, he admitted the NHS was currently facing huge pressures and he said the vaccine "doesn't take away from the really difficult winter weeks that we’ve got between now and then".

He called on the UK to "stick with this" and "hold our nerve" knowing that the vaccine is coming and normality is sooner to returning than it was yesterday.