Covid vaccine: Wales 'will decide how to use it once it is available'

The drug's developers described it as a "great day for science and humanity"

How any future Covid vaccine will be used in Wales will be decided when it becomes available, First Minister Mark Drakeford has said.

Pfizer and BioNTech have announced the development of an effective Covid-19 vaccine but Boris Johnson cautioned it was "very, very early days".

Mr Drakeford said the UK government would buy the vaccine on behalf of the whole of the UK.

"We will get our population share," he said.

"That's what's already been agreed and when the vaccine comes to Wales, it'll be the Welsh Government's responsibility to store the vaccine and then to distribute it so that it can be used for the Welsh population."

He told BBC Wales Today: "We then decide how to use it, and make sure that it's done in the best possible way."

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Earlier, Mr Drakeford welcomed the breakthrough but cautioned it was unlikely to represent a "magic bullet".

Speaking at Monday's Welsh Government press conference, he said: "It is good news, of course, if any of the vaccines in trials are making progress.

"[But] I think you would always want to read carefully what a particular competitor in this field says on their own behalf.

"I'm not going to be tempted today, as I've tried not to be tempted throughout coronavirus, to suggest that this somehow means that there is a magic bullet on the horizon and coronavirus is about to disappear out of our lives."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says a new vaccine is good news but warns the UK not to "slacken our resolve"

Mr Johnson said the vaccine had "cleared one significant hurdle but there are several more to go".

He warned people not to "rely on this news as a solution" to the pandemic.

"The biggest mistake we could make now would be to slacken our resolve at a critical moment," he said.

'Much better horizon'

England's deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, said he was "hopeful" the first vaccine could be seen by Christmas and there would be a "much better horizon" by spring.

Speaking alongside Mr Johnson at a Downing Street news conference, Prof Van-Tam said that there was more work to be done before it became available to the public.

"This is a very important scientific breakthrough. I am certain of that," he said.

The vaccine has been hailed as a "milestone" by many scientists.

It has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries with no safety concerns raised.

When will the vaccine be available?

A limited number of people may get the vaccine this year.

Pfizer and BioNTech say they will have enough safety data by the third week of November to take their vaccine to regulators.

Until it has been approved it will not be possible for countries to begin their vaccination campaigns.

The two companies say they will be able to supply 50 million doses by the end of this year and around 1.3 billion by the end of 2021. Each person needs two doses.

The UK should get 10 million doses by the end of the year, with a further 30 million doses already ordered.