The speed of the roll out of the UK vaccine programme had nothing to do with Brexit according to Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The UK had opted to allow the vaccine to be delivered in “highly controlled circumstances” even though the vaccine had not yet been licensed in the UK which was still technically in the EU and under the auspices of the European Medicine Agency (EMA), he told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.
Other European countries were awaiting EMA licensing whereby the vaccine could be distributed more widely, the public health expert said.
There was no right way or wrong way to do this, it was a judgement call, added Prof McKee.
Having the vaccine so quickly was a remarkable achievement and had come about because a lot of the research had already been done in the area of cancer. The necessary approvals had come through because there were no administrative delays, he added.
However, Prof McKee warned that there would have to be rigorous scrutiny of the roll out of the vaccine - who gets it, who does not, that problems are registered if they arise and if necessary that the vaccination programme is tailored to ensure its long term success.
It won’t be safe until we all get it.
There would also need to be vigilance about the control of the messaging about the importance of the vaccination programme.
“It won’t be safe until we all get it,” he said.
There will be people who will be “vaccine hesitant” and there will be others who will attempt to actively undermine the message about the importance of the vaccine, he said.
Prof McKee added it will be very important to monitor those views because some of their messages will be spread through social media and other ‘uncontrolled’ methods.
Prof McKee also stressed the importance of getting the message to the public about the need for the vaccine, as many people had lost their trust in politicians.
