With 52,618 cases reported today. And at 5 more on the vaccine rollout from the Prime Minister, who will be joined by the ceo of the nhs Simon Stevens and brigadier phil prosser. Gp surgeries in england have begun offering the first dose of the Oxford Astra Zeneca covid 19 vaccine with the second dose to be given three months later. Vaccine with the second dose to be there had been concern in birmingham after leaders revealed the Pfizer Vaccine was going to run out tomorrow. But the citys mayor says hes been assured that from tomorrow, supplies of the Astra Zeneca Oxford vaccine will start to be delivered. Nhs england say nearly 20,000 second doses of the Pfizer Vaccine were administered between december 29th and january 3rd. 0verall, more than 308,000 people received a pfizerjab in the week ending sunday january 3rd. This takes the total number of people vaccinated in england since the rollout began to over 1. 3 million. Latest daily figures show there have been 52,618 more covid cases in the uk, with a further 1,162 deaths. Our Health Correspondent nick triggle is here and can tell us more. First, the vaccine roll out and concerns about when doses are going to be administered and who is getting which vaccine and whether there is enough available already . Yes. There is a lot of nervousness and pressure in the system about vaccinations. Vaccinations are obviously our way out of this pandemic and the lockdown. The vaccinations started in early december, when we got approval for the Pfizer Vaccine. By the end of december, just shy of 950,000 vaccinations had been done. We now know there have been 1. 3 million vaccinations. The oxford vaccine has started to be rolled out, so we now have two vaccines that are being given. We have heard concerns in birmingham that they may be running out of stocks, but we have been assured that the oxford vaccine will be delivered in time for vaccination tomorrow. Nhs england say this marks the first week of the nhs putting its foot on the accelerator to get people vaccinated. They say there will be some teething problems, but we have to give it time to bed in. The way tojudge we have to give it time to bed in. The way to judge this is to look at how many we are going to vaccinate by the end of this week. I expect that the nhs will get to 2 million by the end of the week. So from 1. 3 million at the start of this week to 2 million by the end of next week this week. The next week, they are aiming to do another 2 million on top of that. They want to do 2 million doses a week so that by mid february, they will have offered eve ryo ne mid february, they will have offered everyone who is over the age of 70 01 everyone who is over the age of 70 or in everyone who is over the age of 70 orina everyone who is over the age of 70 or in a clinically vulnerable position a vaccine. So we should keep an eye on how many people they are vaccinating. At the moment, the uk is third in the world in terms of the numbers of vaccines given per head of population. In israel and bahrain have vaccinated more. So its been a good start, but we have to watch it carefully. And of course, there are people who will be a greater priority than others. It might be difficult for some time to stand why they are further down the list. Yes, there is a clear priority list. Yes, there is a clear priority list that has been set out, starting with care home residents and care workers. I am told that all of those should have been offered a jab by the end of this month. It is then offered to Health Care Workers and other social care workers. And moving down the age groups to the over 70s. The rest of the first phase means that all over 50s will eventually be offered the jab. We expect that to be by early summer, and then a decision has to be made about how we roll it out further. There has been some talk today that key workers might be prioritised once all the over 50s have been done. That could involve teachers being vaccinated, helping to ensure that schools are safe and can remain open during the pandemic. Nick triggle, our Health Correspondent, who will be with us up to five oclock, when we hearfrom who will be with us up to five oclock, when we hear from the who will be with us up to five oclock, when we hearfrom the Prime Minister. Im joined now by the former director of immunisation for the department of health, professor David Salisbury. What is your view of the way these vaccines are going to be rolled out in terms of getting a larger number of people vaccinated first and delaying the second dose . of people vaccinated first and delaying the second dose . I am strongly in favour of this. I wrote to the chief medical officer back on the 17th of december, advocating this, because our priority is to save lives. And the best way to save lives is to give as many people as possible of the first dose and then come back for the second dose when we have enough vaccine. Tell us in your view how large a task this is, not just logistically, your view how large a task this is, notjust logistically, but in terms of convincing people that they need to ta ke of convincing people that they need to take up the vaccine when they are offered it. I think they only have to watch the news every day to see how urgent it is to get vaccinated if it is offered to you. The number of cases in hospital, the number of deaths are surely sufficient to urge you to get vaccinated. But in terms of the fact that the whole population needs to be vaccinated, we are not used to that, are we . Usually, babies will go and have various jabs and then you go when you are at school. It is at various stages in your life, but this is about trying to vaccinate an entire country as fast as we can. That is unprecedented, isnt it . |j country as fast as we can. That is unprecedented, isnt it . I guess it is unprecedented to be trying to do the whole country. Of course, it is going to be done in phases, and the phases are dictated by the availability of the vaccine. In terms of who should get which vaccine, are there particular vaccines which would be more suitable for certain sections of the population . The only group that one would be cautious about using the 0xford vaccine for our people whose immunity is suppressed or compromised, because it is a live virus, although not a human virus. And i think for individuals who are immunocompromised, we clearly want to protect them and the Pfizer Vaccine would be more appropriate for them. We know of course that there is a much more infectious variant that we have been coping with in this country in the last few weeks. There are questions from people about whether all of the variants can be vaccinated against by these vaccines which have already come on stream. What is your reassurance about that . Well, viruses mutate all the time and we are used to that and our vaccines still work. We have a number of different families of measles virus with different genotypes because they have mutated, and our vaccine still works. We know the polio virus mutates all the time, but our polio vaccines continue to work. We dont know if we can have the same assurance here for the coronavirus, but nevertheless, studies will be going on to make sure the vaccine does induce antibodies that do stop the virus from replicating. I am confident that studies will be done andi confident that studies will be done and i am optimistic that we will continue using the vaccines we are using. And if we have to make changes, iam using. And if we have to make changes, i am sure that can be accommodated. Not necessarily easily, but every year we have different flu vaccines because the flu virus changes each year. So preparedness and dentist patient will go a long way, preparedness and anticipation will go a long way, but we can be confident that our current vaccines were but we can be confident that our current vaccines were protecting. Professor David Salisbury, thank you for talking to us. Lets speak now to our political corresondent Damian Grammaticas, whos in westminsterfor us. We are expecting to hear from the Prime Minister at five oclock. What is the focus of the press conference likely to be . When you look at the cast list today, i think the focus directs you to what the topic will be. Sir Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the nhs, and therefore plus a, the commander of the logistics brigade. It is going to be about the logistics of rolling out the vaccine, the plan to ramp up the distribution. Today we have the 0xford vaccine that has been going out through gp surgeries and that aim to reach 2 million a week. That is what the focus will be on. We have seen the Prime Minister already talking about that this week and talking about that this week and talking about that this week and talking about the importance of the fa ct talking about the importance of the fact that we now have the Vaccine Programme rolling out. It is also going to be his focus because of the political pressures that are on him. We saw that in the house of commons, when mps were questioning him, some are unsure about being asked to approve a lockdown that will last for almost three months, or the end of march. And others asking whether the lockdown measures could be lifted early, depending on the progress of the Vaccination Programme. This is what he will want to focus on. And also the pressure is on making sure the vaccines are available, because we heard that leaders in birmingham said they were going to run out tomorrow. Yes, earlier in the day people in birmingham were saying that. We saw Health Secretary matt hancock out today at a delivery of vaccines where he was, which was late arriving. There are the teething problems of how they will get this plan to get 13 million vaccines offered by the middle of february. Are they going to be able to stick to that . There are going to be milestones all along the way. You heard nick talking about 2 million by the end of this week and 2 million more next week. That will be important because we also had the Health Secretary today saying that the questions of when the lockdown can be lifted are of course linked to the roll out of the Vaccine Programme, but other things will feed into those decisions as well, including whether there is another variant of the virus that comes out, the number of hospitalisations, the number of deaths. All those things have to be trending in the right direction, and all of that indicates that it will not be mid february, it will be mid february plus extra weeks for the vaccines to kick in with immunity and the number of deaths to start falling. That takes you several weeks for forward before they can lift measures. Damian grammaticas, our Political Correspondent in westminster. Sirjohn bell, a regius professor of medicine at oxford, joins me now. There is some concern amongst people who were told, you must have your second dose of the vaccine within three weeks and then they were told it was fun to come back in three months. What reassurance would you give to people that this was the right way of doing things . give to people that this was the right way of doing things . I think the data from the trials is now pretty clear that both these vaccines offer substantial protection against disease, indeed, near 100 protection against severe disease after the first dose. It is important that people get a second dose because immunologically speaking, as again this will provide a high level of antibodies which will be durable over a longer period of time. But you dont need the second dose immediately. As David Salisbury just second dose immediately. As David Salisburyjust said, if second dose immediately. As David Salisbury just said, if you second dose immediately. As David Salisburyjust said, if you want second dose immediately. As David Salisbury just said, if you want to get the vaccine into as many people as you can, lets give everybody a first vaccine and then play out the second vaccine as the supplies coming in three months time. So i think its a shrewd approach to the problem and one that will save lives. What immunological arguments might there be for there being a big gap between the first and second doses . There is a large amount of immunology exploring these potential gaps. And there is data from harvard with the hiv setting which shows that a longer gap produces a better immune response. There certainly isnt any evidence that people who had differing intervals between the first and second dose were presenting a reduction in efficacy of the vaccine over three months. So with the oxford vaccine, i dont think you are doing anybody any harm and you are doing a great deal of good, as well as with the second dose producing a durable response, it will hopefully take us to next winter. Which will not be straightforward. What you mean by not straightforward . What you mean by not straightforward . What you mean by not straightforward . This will what you mean by not straightforward . This will have a seasonal component to it, and things we re seasonal component to it, and things were quiet in the summer and soon as the weather deteriorated in the autumn, we saw another surge, a bit like flu, which has a seasonal element to it, it is quite likely that there might be another surge when the weather gets bad in the autumn and winter. If that is the case, we want as many people as we can to have immune responses to the vaccine taking us through the autumn and into the winter, so we dont have a really good readout on durability of the immune response. We know that people who have been infected with the virus are probably protected for at least six months, so that is helpful, but we dont know about the vaccine yet. We all ought to know by now having lived with this thing since last march that viruses mutate and we are dealing with a new variant that took off in the south east of england, but we are also hearing about the South African variant. How worried about that should we be here . Yes, so, ican about that should we be here . Yes, so, i can give you some about that should we be here . Yes, so, i can give you some news about that should we be here . Yes, so, i can give you some news hot off the press and ive seen data today from the Immunology Lab here and we have looked to see if a convalescent sera, sera from people who had a natural infection, will neutralise it, and the data looks good. It looks like you will be cross protected against that variant. Early data, but i am encouraged by that. I think it probably means, although i dont have the data and i dont have it of the week about the vaccine, whether it covers the kent variant. The South African variant is much more complicated because it has a number of pretty ugly mutations on the receptors, but that does not mean that the vaccine wont work in that setting. You get a lot of different neutralising antibodies for various spikes, and identity you can makea for various spikes, and identity you can make a judgment by looking at the new structure, you really have to do the experiments to see whether the vaccination will kill the vax the vaccination will kill the vax the virus or reduce it, and those experiments are ongoing at the moment and we should know pretty soon about whether that works or not. So that is basically where we are. It is easy to become very alarmed by the idea of a new variant forming another part of the world and we know how fast they can spread. Its in the last ten months that we have heard from immunologist and virologist and epidemiologist to and virologist and epidemiologist to a greater extent than we have ever heard from them before and this is the stuff that scientists deal with all the time and we are just getting all the time and we are just getting a glimpse of what medics do for their entire careers, i guess. Yes. Its their entire careers, i guess. Yes. Its important to reassure people that there will be variance. The reason we have so many variants is that there is so much virus out there. You have to understand that there. You have to understand that there are massive amounts of virus. Lots and lots of people infected and you get very high levels of virus in the whole respiratory tract, and once you have a lot of virus you will get a lot of trouble and there is more chance of things mutating and more chance of trouble. Job number one is to suppress the amount of disease out there. If we get a variant that doesnt respond well to the vaccine, it also becomes easier to make another vaccine and you will be reassured that the team in oxford did such a good job on the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine. They are already well on their way to think about new vaccines to deal with, if need be, the South African variant and you wont need a year to demonstrate the utility of those. Its demonstrate the utility of those. Its a bit like the flu vaccine, they can make it up quickly without many trials because once you know the vector is safe and the protein is safe, you just need to show that it mounts an immune response and then you should be able to bridge it across. So we should be able to have vaccines quickly in this world, but we just need to know when to flip them or not, but i think people should not get panicky about the variance. It is under control, at least at the moment. As long as we keep following the guidance. There has been a lot of criticism of how the British Government has handled the British Government has handled the coronavirus pandemic since last march, but from a scientific point of view, how impressive is it, what the scientists have achieved in finding the vaccine and getting us to the roll out starting as quickly as they have . I would say, and i am as they have . I would say, and i am a bit biased, but the effect of the Science Community on moderating and reducing the impact of this epidemic has been massive. And its notjust the vaccine. Both the Pfizer Vaccine and the oxford vaccine and hopefully we will have another couple of them by the end of this month or beginning of february, this is a really stunning display of speed and efficiency in getting stuff through the system. I remind people that it normally takes about eight years to make a vaccine, so this is really impressive, but in addition to that, the uk has discovered new drugs for this disease, dexamethasone which reduces mortality by about 30 , so really outstanding. All the testing, and remember, at the beginning we had no testing in the uk, we had no testing, and now we have one of the best testing profiles anywhere on the planet. We have massive pcr testing on the lateral flow tests which are pretty outstanding test for identifying people who are infectious and a whole set of other things like the big epidemiological studies which tell us when the variant will appear and what the effect is, so i think the Science Community has done a pretty good job for us over the last nine months, but they cant stop now. We have a long way to go and they need to keep working. It is good to hear you sounding so optimistic. You have to have a natural optimism as a medic to do thejob have a natural optimism as a medic to do the job you do, have a natural optimism as a medic to do thejob you do, but have a natural optimism as a medic to do the job you do, but amongst all of the gloom and these many deaths which in many cases people felt could have been avoided, you do sound pretty positive. Look, we are ina sound pretty positive. Look, we are in a period of real uncertainty now but we worked our way through the initial problems in the first and second waves and we have got vaccines and drugs and better testing now. The virus is starting to eke and dodge a bit and we will have to make sure it does not get away on us, but im pretty confident that we can do that, with all the resources and the ability we have got to catch up to any variant before it gets away and make new vaccines if we have to do. I think we will get on top of this in the course of the next few months. Im very optimistic. I should also say, i think its very easy to be critical about how we have done, but you do have to remember that there is nobody who has really managed a pandemic like this, who has ever done it before. And, you know, we are all trying to make decisions on the run and some of those decisions will inevitably be the wrong decisions and we should not be apologetic about that. Everybody should be doing their best. And i think, on the whole, people are, including i have to say the politicians, so dont beat them up too badly, theyve done a pretty good job in my view. |j too badly, theyve done a pretty good job in my view. I suppose people look to other parts of the world which have a very different population, like new zealand, taking a different approach. A smaller population, lots of sheep, not too complicated. Honestly, dont start doing that thing. What level of u pta ke doing that thing. What level of uptake is necessary . Ideally 100 , im sure, in this country for those able to have it, but what level of u pta ke able to have it, but what level of uptake is essential in this country . Im really hoping we will get to Something Like 70 , because that is sort of the number that people talk about around herd immunity. Ithink there is an interesting observation, and that is that im starting to wonder whether there was a level of background immunity in the population which comes from other types of coronaviruses which we know create particularly strong t cell responses that has made it a bit easier to make really good vaccines for this and are giving us a certain level of protection in the population which means that we might not have to get to 70 overall. But that, of course, is speculation, but i think we should all try to get to 70 or 80 coverage and then we know we will be fine. I believe you have previously claimed that you think life could be back to normal, whatever that is, by easter. Do you still stand by that . Yes, we will all be fine by easter. What does fine look like . Life wont be com pletely fine look like . Life wont be completely normal but it will be a lot more normal. Remember though, we have plans for rolling out vaccines based largely on the astrazeneca vaccine and Pfizer Vaccine at the moment and we should see the jansen vaccine coming into play by the end of the month and the no vote fax vaccine which should report at the same time and they have substantial supplies and im not ruling out the possibility week couldnt end up without more of the existing vaccine the idea is to get as many people vaccinated in a short period of time and there are a lot of things working to our advantage in that regard. My younger sister kindly informed me that i am due to be vaccinated in june, informed me that i am due to be vaccinated injune, so if im not vaccinated injune, so if im not vaccinated until then, im not imaginingi vaccinated until then, im not imagining i will want to take many risks and many other people will feel the same if they are not vaccinated. The trouble is, ive seen those calculations today and thatis seen those calculations today and that is fair enough, but they are all based on the number of vaccines you can get out of the door in a week, or a day, for that matter. And i think that that is the number that could flex as we get more vaccines online. I think we have the capability of delivering a very large number of vaccines if we had supplies from jansen and novavax as well as an uplift in the astrazeneca supply, well as an uplift in the astrazeneca supply, so im more optimistic about getting more vaccines into people than the current predictions. The reason the predictions are as they are is that people dont want to overpromise and i totally get that as well. They want to be able to tell people where would you be if what we have got is what we have got and we played out the best we can without any uplift in new vaccines, new supplies and the like, and i think we cant be certain it will happen, but im reasonably optimistic we will get other potential players to help us out. Final question to you. Even with the vaccine, which are the habits that we have had to acquire that we will have to hold onto, or should hold onto . My view, and i know people are cynical, but i think societies has operated pretty well. Not everybody has observed social distancing in the way they should and there has been a bit of that going on and the rest of it, but on the whole, the lockdown has been pretty effective. This lockdown has been pretty tightly run and if you go on the streets, there is nobody on the streets, there is nobody on the streets, at least where i live. I think we have done pretty well on that and i think some of those things we should probably think about carrying on, but not a lockdown. We want to get out of that and get back to relatively normal social distance, but there are whole areas of Public Health and hygiene which i think will reach a new standard in the pandemic and will wa nt standard in the pandemic and will want us to sustain all the time. Im not a fan of doing social distancing for the rest of our lives. Talking to people two metres apart is not my idea of fun so i hope we get rid of a lot of that stuff in the course of the next six months to a year. Im sure many people listening will absolutely agree with you. Sirjohn bell, fascinating to talk to you. Thank you for your time today. You are very welcome. We will hear from the Prime Minister at 5pm. Our Health Correspondent nick triggle is here and can tell us more. Ahead of us seeing borisjohnson arrive up to the lectern, and the focus is almost inevitably going to be on vaccines on the roll out. Focus is almost inevitably going to be on vaccines on the roll outm is. We will get a lot of questions about how quickly we are going to get to the 13 million mark that he set for mid february on monday evening when he did the television address to the nation. It is a huge challenge. As sirjohn was saying there are more vaccines coming down there are more vaccines coming down the pipeline, but what we are all very worried about and wanting to hear is rapid progress immediately. There is enough vaccine in the country to vaccinate all 13 million of the highest at risk people. The issue is, its not ready yet for the nhs to use. It has to go through several processes, so once the vaccine substance is made, it has to go to vaccine substance is made, it has to gotoa vaccine substance is made, it has to go to a plant for the fill and the regulator for safety checks. We we re the regulator for safety checks. We were hearing earlier in the week that they can take up to 20 days to ta ke that they can take up to 20 days to take up these safety checks which is slow down the amount that was available for the nhs immediately. I was talking to a regulator theyve taken on more lab technicians, using more lab capacity. And they are going to speed up those safety checks. I really think in the coming weeks we will see more vaccine available for the nhs. Weve now got close to a thousand local vaccination centers. We will see the opening of seven mass oxidation. Next week we will see the opening of seven mass Vaccination Centres, and we really should expect to see an acceleration in the rate of vaccination in the coming weeks. Interestingly today, alongside the Prime Minister we have the ceo of the nhs, Simon Stevens, and also brigadier phil prosser. That tells you something about the logistical side of this operation that we are likely to hear more about. Yes, this isa likely to hear more about. Yes, this is a huge undertaking. We have never attempted a Mass Vaccination Programme on this scale and at this pace before. 0bviously, programme on this scale and at this pace before. Obviously, there are a lot of hurdles to get over. I think we will also hear about the pressures on the nhs. We got the daily figures today and there have been another 3600 admissions into uk hospitals for covid. To put that into context, even in the depths of winter, you wouldnt see more than 1000 admissions a day for all types of respiratory condition. So we are approaching four times that level for covid alone. There are more than 30,000 patients in hospital now with covid and that means one in three patients who are being treated in hospital are being treated for covid. In some hospitals, it is one in two. In london, half the patients in hospital are Covid Patients. And thatis in hospital are Covid Patients. And that is obviously having a big impact on hospitals. It is pushing out the non covid work they can do. We have heard a lot about routine treatments like hip and knee replacements having to be cancelled, but this week we are hearing how some urgent cancer care is also being cancelled. So this is having a dire effect on the nhs. Lets go to downing street, where the Prime Minister is giving a coronavirus update. Good afternoon. Today i am joined by sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of nhs england, and brigadier phil prosser, who is commander of military support to the Vaccine Delivery Programme across our united kingdom. Because i now know there is one question at the top of your minds, and that is how fast and how effectively we can get these millions of new vaccines into the arms of the most vulnerable and those who need them most. And you wa nt to those who need them most. And you want to know that we in government, the nhs, the armed forces, local and regional government, government at every level are throwing everything at it round the clock if necessary. And i believe that with the country once again in lockdown, with all the difficulties that means for you, for yourfamily, for students difficulties that means for you, for your family, for students and education, for your businesses, and of course with the tragic number of deaths we have seen today, you have a right to understand exactly how we are cracking this problem and how the National Vaccine effort is progressing. And you rightly want to know how we are going to reach the target that i set out earlier this week of offering a slot for vaccination by the 15th of february for everyone in those key groups identified by the joint for everyone in those key groups identified by thejoint committee on vaccination and immunisation. That is over 12 Million People in england and 15 million in the uk, including older care home residents and staff, eve ryo ne older care home residents and staff, everyone 70 or over, all front line nhs and care staff and or those who are clinically extremely vulnerable. Just to remind you of the importance of these groups for fighting the disease, they account for 88 of all those who have sadly lost their lives. So our tactics are first, to use the natural capacity of the nhs, and by the end of the week there will be over 1000 gp led sites providing vaccines, 223 hospital sites, seven giant Vaccination Centres and a first wave of 200 community pharmacies. If all goes well, these together should have the capacity to deliver hundreds of thousands of vaccines per day by january the 15th, and it is our plan that everyone should have a vaccination available within a radius of ten miles. And it follows from that that the limits will not be on our distribution of power, but on the supply of vaccines. And i have no doubt that we have enough supply to vaccinate these four groups by the february the 15th deadline, and we also have the Distribution Network to do it and to continue an expanding programme down that priority list. Lets be clear, this is a National Challenge on a scale like nothing we have seen before, and it will require an unprecedented National Effort. Of course, there will be difficulties. Appointments will be changed. But as brigadier prosser will expand, the army is working hand in glove with the nhs and local councils to set up our Vaccine Network and using battle preparation techniques to help us keep up the pace. We will publish ourfull keep up the pace. We will publish our full vaccine deployment plan on monday, along with daily updates on the progress we are making. We have now vaccinated 1. 26 Million People in england, 130,000 in scotland, 49,000 in in england, 130,000 in scotland, 119,000 in wales and 116,000 in Northern Ireland. So altogether, nearly 1. 5 Million People across the uk have now received their first dose and within two to three weeks, all of them will have considerable degree of immunity. And it is thanks to the arrival of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine, which can be stored at room temperature, that we can accelerate the pace of vaccination in care homes. We are using that vaccine in care homes for the first time today, and by the end of the month, we hope to have offered every elderly care home resident a vaccine. 0ur offered every elderly care home resident a vaccine. Our new National Booking Service will also make it easier to book and access appointments, so i urge everyone to come forwards, because it is vital that we should have confidence in these vaccines. I want to thank eve ryo ne these vaccines. I want to thank everyone involved in this Extraordinary National effort, all the gps, nurses, pharmacists, all the gps, nurses, pharmacists, all the stuff behind the scenes, our armed forces, local councils, our scientists, who have not only developed the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine, the first life saving treatment for covid in the form of dexamethasone, but also, british Scientific Research has now contributed to the creation of more new life saving treatments that have just passed rigorous Clinical Trials. In particular, two products which have been found to reduce the risk of critically ill patients by almost a quarter. And they cut time spent in intensive care by as much as ten days. These life saving drugs will be available through the nhs with immediate effect, potentially saving thousands of lives. Finally, i want to thank you, the british public, for coming forward to be vaccinated in the numbers you have, still greater than all the countries of europe put together. And yes of course, we are in a race against time, buti course, we are in a race against time, but i can assure you that we are doing everything we can to vaccinate as many people as possible across our whole united kingdom. And in the meantime, please stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. I will now hand over to sir Simon Stevens. Thank you very much. Maybe i can start by thanking my collea g u es maybe i can start by thanking my colleagues across the Health Service who are at the moment confronting an incredibly serious situation. We have got 50 more coronavirus in patients in our hospitals now than we had at the peak of the april one wave, and that is true in every region in the country. There are now more covid inpatients than back in april. And that number is accelerating rapidly. We have seen an increase of 10,000 hospitalised coronavirus patients just since christmas day. That is the equivalent of filling 20 acute hospitals with extra coronavirus patients. And of course, many of those will be patients who caught the infection between christmas and new year, given the delay between catching the infection and becoming seriously ill. And that is of course all happening at what is traditionally the busiest time of yearfor traditionally the busiest time of year for hospitals and the wider nhs. So whereas in april, for eve ryo ne nhs. So whereas in april, for everyone coronavirus inpatients, we we re everyone coronavirus inpatients, we were looking after two other hospitalised patients for other conditions, now for everyone coronavirus inpatient, we are looking after three patients from other conditions. So the pressures are real and growing, and that is why, as the Prime Minister says, the message from nurses, paramedics, intensive care staff, from gps, pharmacists and everybody in the nhs is that it is vital that we do all ta ke is that it is vital that we do all take the steps necessary to control the growth of infection. There is nobody more motivated to deliver a Vaccination Programme speedily than the staff of the Health Service, because they are living day by day with the tragic consequences for patients, families and colleagues of not having coronavirus under control. So the Prime Minister has set this challenging but hugely important goal that we are able to offer the Covid Vaccine to everybody aged 70 and above, as well as patients who are clinically extremely vulnerable and the health and care staff who look after them by the 15th of february. As he says, if that offer is accepted, and we very much hope that when people are invited for vaccination, they will come forward to take up the offer, that has the potential to prevent the majority of the deaths we have seen over the last year. Its fair to say that we have made a strong start in the coronavirus Vaccination Programme in this country. As the Prime Minister says, four times more people vaccinate to here than in germany, 300 times more than in france. But there is no complacency, because we need a huge acceleration if we are, over the next five weeks, going to vaccinate more people than we typically vaccinate over five months during a winter flu programme. We have 39 days to do it, so the plan for the next 39 days has these three essential components. First of all, expanding the supply of vaccines that we can administer. Secondly, more places doing the jabbing and thirdly, the nhs expanding the number of people and partnerships who are helping us get thejob done. Partnerships who are helping us get the job done. 0n vaccine supply, as you know, on the 8th of december, we we re you know, on the 8th of december, we were able to provide the first covid vaccination, approved by an independent regulator in this country, to Margaret Keenan in coventry. And during the course of january, we will have much more vaccine supply than we had in december and in february, we will have more vaccine supply in addition to that. So providing that vaccine supply continues to be available to us, and it looks as if it will be, we will be able to offer all the vaccination slots the Prime Minister has described. So the vaccine supply is coming online. The second part of it is more places where the vaccine is administered. We want to increase the number of people and places doing vaccination as supply increases day by day and week by week. There are three ways in which people will be invited to come forward to get their vaccination. The first in the bulk of the vaccination will be through local gp practices and pharmacists Offering Services to their local patients. We have expanded the number of places from 116 across the country that we re from 116 across the country that were doing that in mid december to 739 of these local Vaccination Services today, growing to over 1000 by the end of next week. In addition to that, we have hospital hubs that will be vaccinating social care, ca re will be vaccinating social care, care home and nhs staff, and their numbers have expanded from 50 to 206, and that will be 223, the bulk of hospital sites across the nhs providing that service by the end of next week. Thirdly, we are establishing these larger Vaccination Centres that will work seven days a week, extended hours, in sports stadia and other public venues, where people will also be invited if that is more convenient for them. What we are trying to do with these three routes is get the balance right between the scale and efficiencies that you get from these larger centres, combined with the local convenience of the options through your local gps and over time from pharmacists as well. There has been quite a lot of discussion in the press about the interesting success the israelis have been having. They have chosen to do most of their vaccination through these larger, bespoke vaccination sites, rather than through their local pharmacies and gps. We think, given the geography of this country, having a mixture of those different routes will be the right answer and we will steadily expand the ways in which you can get vaccinated as supply continues to increase. Firstly, expand the supply, then secondly increase the number of places providing a vaccination, and then thirdly, matched by an increase in the number of people doing the vaccinating, many of whom will come from our partners, notjust the nhs. So we now have over 80,000 people who are trained on these particular types of vaccinations and able to administer them, of whom 18,000 are already beginning working in different context. The stjohns ambulance are working with us and have identified over 25,000 volu nteers have identified over 25,000 volunteers who want to come and help together with the Royal Voluntary Service and others. And in addition to that, we are unashamedly tapping into the genesis six brilliance logistics brilliance of the armed forces to make sure that the distribution works well alongside the usual challenge of the hospitals, gps and doctors provide and its those three parts of the plan that we think will give us the opportunity to make that offer to millions of people over the next five weeks. But at that point, let me handover to brigadier prosser who will describe the role the army are playing and supporting us in the nhs. Thank you, Prime Minister. I am brigadier phil prosser and im coordinating the military support to the Vaccination Programme. I think its important to note that all aspects of our work have been in support of the nhs. My team are embedded with them and in the past eight weeks we have been working with some of the most professional, dedicated and amazing people that i have had the honour to serve alongside. We are one team. The main assistance we have provided is planning support, drawing on our extensive operational and logistic experience. We are adding to what is already an extremely High Performance team in nhs england headquarters. In my dayjob, i am commander 101 logistics brigade and its my role to deliver combat supplies to uk forces in time of war. My team are used to complexity and Building Supply chains at speed in the most arduous and challenging conditions. The military uses three steps to plan and deliver complex operations. First, we analyse the situation on the mission, we then identify choices to select the best plan, and then we execute the plan at pace. In this case the mission is to support the nhs in delivering the maximum amount of vaccine, to minimise the numberof maximum amount of vaccine, to minimise the number of infections and deaths as quickly and as safely as possible. We have worked shoulder to shoulder with the exceptional nhs team, sharing clinical and logistical analysis. The plan has many challenges which are difficult to balance. We need to make sure everyone of you has equal access to the vaccine, no matter where you in england. We need to be mobile enough to access those clinically vulnerable in care homes. The plan is reliant on Pfizer Vaccine storage down to 75 degrees and it must be flexible enough to allow us to adapt to changes as the situation evolves. So the plan needs to be agile. We aim to deliver the vaccine as soon as after it is supplied as possible. Not leaving vast quantities in the warehouse. It needs to be in arms, not on shelves. An added complexity is that this all takes place against the backdrop of a Global Pandemic and the logistical and workforce challenges this brings. The final phaseis challenges this brings. The final phase is to execute the plan. 0ur aim is to deliver operational excellence. Working with the nhs, we used techniques tried and tested on previous operations in the uk and abroad. This is to deliver command and control to the activity on the ground, ensuring performance targets are met and resources are allocated to where they are needed most. A Vaccination Programme of this scale has not been done before and we are learning as we go. In the event it is required, we also have 21 Vaccination Quick Reaction force teams made up of six military health ca re teams made up of six military Health Care Experts able to deploy anywhere in england at short notice. I have found this logistic operation to be unparalleled in its scale and complexity. And i say this having served in operations around the world. To give you some impression of the work that is being done, in the 30 days that this programme has beenin the 30 days that this programme has been in operation, we have delivered 1. 26 million doses of vaccine. Hundreds of millions of consumable items and established 769 sites. That is the equivalent to setting up a major Supermarket Chain in less thana a major Supermarket Chain in less than a month. And next week, we will further increase our footprint by another 20 . Ive been further increase our footprint by another20 . Ive been immensely proud to see how everyone in this programme has stepped up to deliver professional excellence when the country has needed it most. At every level, the nhs and my team have faced numerous challenges with an heroic will to succeed. It is truly a one team approach. I am a proud memberof the a one team approach. I am a proud member of the armed forces. An organisation drawn from all communities across the uk and the commonwealth. My team and i are honoured to be able to serve those communities and to protect our nation at home. I feel immensely proud of our collective National Effort in supporting the nhs. And i truly believe we will defeat this pandemic together. Thank you. Thank you very much, brigadier and thank you very much, brigadier and thank you simon. Lets go tojudith from leeds. How can a early years provision be safe if primary schools are deemed to be a vector for the spread of the virus . Is this not defeating the purpose of this lockdown . Thanks, judith. I might ask simon to comment on this as well, but the whole point is that we believe that schools are safe and indeed all places of education are safe, judith, including early years provision. Its just that we have to look at the overall budget of risk, the overall spread that schools can be involved in, but there are other very, very Important Reasons for wanting to keep early years provision going, to help key workers, to help Vital Services continue during the pandemic. I hope you appreciate the distinction. Simon, anything you want to add . 0bviously, simon, anything you want to add . Obviously, we defer to the advice of the chief medical officer and sage on these points, but as you say, Prime Minister, a lot of the staff in the Health Service to rely on having available child care and so we are doing everything we can to keep our schools and early years education safe, but nevertheless we have to allow people to continue come to work as a Critical Care nurse orjunior doctor. Come to work as a Critical Care nurse or junior doctor. That come to work as a Critical Care nurse orjunior doctor. That is hugely important to the nhss effort as well. Lets go to steven from sheffield. University students are being encouraged not to return to rented term time addresses and have not received any where near the quality of service that they would we re quality of service that they would were it not for the pandemic. Can the government outlined the way it intends to support University Students over the coming weeks . Thanks, very much stephen and this isa thanks, very much stephen and this is a question ive been asked a lot in the last few days and i think we need to look very hard at the deal that students are getting, and we need to see what more we can do to support students and to help them in what has been a very, very difficult time. You know, of course, at the moment, they are not able to go back to their universities except for a very, very few key practical courses, and i know how frustrating that he is and i know the financial frustrations that that entails and i can tell you that we are looking at that now and you will be hearing more about that from the education secretary. Lets go to alex forsyth of the bbc. Before coming on to covid 19, i want to ask about events in the us. Was donald trump responsible for inciting the crowd that stormed the capitol building, and covid 19, you have set ambitious targets for your Vaccination Programme, so how confident are you that this time you can deliver on your promises, and how close now is the race between the vaccine and the virus . Thanks, alex. On the United States, i just want to say all my life in america has stood for some very important thing is, the idea of freedom and democracy, and as you say, as you suggest, in so far we encourage people to storm the capital and insofar as the president consistently casting doubt on the outcome of a free and fair election, i believe that that was completely wrong, what President Trump has been saying about that has been com pletely saying about that has been completely wrong and i unreservedly condemn encouraging people to behave in the disgraceful way that they did in the disgraceful way that they did in the capitol, and all i can say is, im very pleased that the president elect has now been duly confirmed in office and that democracy has prevailed. And on your second question, alex, about where we are, well, we are going to go at it flat out as i have said, we will do everything we possibly can to achieve this and the purpose of this press co nfe re nce achieve this and the purpose of this press Conference Today is just to give you a chance and the public a chance to see a little bit more of the working, a bit more of the detail, but that is just the beginning. You will be hearing more on monday from matt hancock about the exact plan and how we are going to get to that target by the 15th of february, those first four groups of thejoint committee february, those first four groups of the joint committee of vaccination and immunisation, and i think it is very important to stress what simon said, that you can make a huge difference if you reach all of those groups, but we do depend on people coming forward. I really do urge people, when you get notification, a message from the nhs from your doctor saying that you are eligible for a vaccine, please take it. Can we go to emily morgan of itv . Thank you, Prime Minister. Iwonder we go to emily morgan of itv . Thank you, Prime Minister. I wonder if you can tell us in the clearest possible terms why it is that gps arent getting regular supplies of the vaccine, and why they dont know when their next delivery is going to be . I will hand over to simon to try to go into what the gps may or not be getting today, but to the best of my knowledge we are rolling out supplies of both vaccines to gp surgeries and, as i said earlier, and just now, by the end of next week there will be roughly 1000 Gp Primary Care Network Vaccine Distribution services, more than 200 hospitals will be distributing the vaccine, seven huge Vaccination Centres, big Vaccination Centres, and a first wave of 200 community pharmacies. So there is a big network. The supply is being rolled out. I think what i wont hide from you, emily, is that, of course, in the early phases there are going to be bits of lumpiness and bumping us in the distribution. And today it might be that some gps are not getting the consignments they expected and i know from first hand experience that other gps are doing an incrediblejob experience that other gps are doing an incredible job of getting those jabs into peoples arms, but simon, is there anything you want to say in more detail about gps . Today is the first day, and it was last night that approval was given to start using the astrazeneca vaccine, the 0xford astrazeneca vaccine, in gp local Vaccination Services so the vaccine is being distributed today, tomorrow, at the weekend, to practices to get going. There will be bumps along the road. This is a programme that each day will be delivering to more than 1000 different locations, with hundreds of thousands of people getting jabbed by the time we have that expanded supply available each day, so there will be, and you will hear in the media from those people where there has been an issue arisen, perfectly fair enough, but what you wont hear from are the other 98 of practices or locations where it is all working smoothly. So i think we just have to have a sense of gathering around to get this thing done is a big team effort rather than the sort of poking and prodding, and that is the spirit i know that the whole of the nhs is mobilising around. Thanks, simon. Victoria mcdonald, channel 4. Thank you, Prime Minister. Many patients in hospital right now with covid 19 will have been infected before christmas. Do you now regret not locking down earlier . And can i also ask, there is a lot of concern amongst nhs staff about the people out there who do not believe this is happening, that this is all fake news and that hospitals are empty. What message do you have for them . 0n the speed of the government reaction, dont forget that we were told about the new variant and the way it was taking off on the 18th, and we went into the tier 4 measures across a vast bulk of the country pretty much within the next 24 hours. 0n the kind people who stand outside hospitals and say covid is a hoax and this of stuff, i do think they need to grow up. You have heard eloquently from the head of nhs england of the pressure the nhs is under, and we have all got to do our bit responsibly to protect it. For a lot of us, that means making sure we stay at home and protect the nhs. For people who are getting invited to get a vaccine, go and get the jab. Lets just to get a vaccine, go and get the jab. Letsjust be straightforward about this. When people say that, it isa about this. When people say that, it is a lie. If you sneak into a hospital in an empty corridor at nine oclock at night and film that particular corridor and then stick it up on social media and say, this proves that hospitals are empty and the whole thing is a hoax, you are not only responsible for potentially changing behaviour that will kill people, but it is an insult to the nurse coming home from 12 hours in Critical Care, having worked her guts out under the most demanding and trying of circumstances. There is nothing more demoralising than having that kind of nonsense spouted when it is obviously untrue. So actually, looking at some of the reports that channel 4 and dare i say, the bbc, fergus walsh had a brilliant report last night from University College hospital, the same has been true for itv and sky. You are reporting what is actually going on and that is what people need to concentrate on. Chris smith of the times. Sir simon, to pick up on the sobering numbers you presented earlier about how patient numbers are set to exceed critical ca re numbers are set to exceed Critical Care capacity in london and the midlands in the next couple of weeks. Are you confident that Covid Patients are going to be able to receive the normal standard of care in the next month . And i want to pick up on the distinction being drawn between offering vaccination to the four priority groups and actually vaccinating them. Sir simon, do you have any estimated u pta ke simon, do you have any estimated uptake so farand simon, do you have any estimated uptake so far and Prime Minister, can you make the addition of a commitment not just to offer the vaccine, but even if it means moving onto a younger age group, to have vaccinated more than 13 Million People . On the first point, obviously, vaccination is voluntary, so it wouldnt be right to require that all of those eligible in this first phase take up the offer. But i think the evidence from this years flu Vaccination Programme is that u pta ke flu Vaccination Programme is that uptake is likely to be high. Over 80 of people aged 65 and over have taken up the flu jab this year. That is up by ten Percentage Points on last year. And as i have discussed, having flu and covid at the same time significantly increases your risk of death. So people have heard that message and we are finding a good response when people are invited to come forward that they will do so. We are notjust going to let that find its own level, we are also going to make sure we are paying attention over the next four or five weeks to those groups who we definitely want to see come forward where there has been some targeted misinformation, including some of the minority ethnic communities across the country who have been disgracefully targeted with nonsense about vaccination. And if vaccine supply is such that after everybody has come forward has coronavirus patients every day. So it is vital that the measures that are now in force do begin to have an impact on cutting the infections across london and the rest of the country. In the meantime, what hospitals are doing is expanding their Critical Care into other parts of the hospital, so called surge capacity. So we have over 1300 of these surge medical care beds open across the country. That is putting gnasher on the staff and that is what we will it is putting pressure on the staff and it is now vital that the infection comes under control. Chris, you were asking if we could do more than 13 million or whether we can exceed the target. I wa nt to whether we can exceed the target. I want to stress that this is a very challenging target, as simon said at the beginning. It is vitalfor us in government to set ourselves the most difficult possible targets that we think we can achieve, because i know thatis think we can achieve, because i know that is what you and the public will wa nt that is what you and the public will want us to be doing right now. Everybody is in lockdown, everybody can see the nhs is under extreme pressure already. We have to get this done as fast and as efficiently as possible. And i do believe it is attainable. I believe those numbers are doable. But clearly, it will be are doable. But clearly, it will be a big stretch. It will be a huge National Effort. To be frank, we wa nt National Effort. To be frank, we want our efforts to be scrutinised and to be visible in order to give the maximum possible confidence. That is the purpose of what im saying today and what we will be saying today and what we will be saying from monday and the coming days. Lets go to willjones of reuters. A question force assignment first. People who have the first shot of the Pfizer Vaccine are getting worried because they have had their opponents cancelled that they are not going to get their second shot. Can you guarantee that they will get that vaccine in time for the second is . And to the Prime Minister, you sit at the top of a pyramid of experts, scientists, a nalysts pyramid of experts, scientists, analysts and advisers. You see all the information and all the forecasts and you make your policy decisions based on that. The people dont see that information, but they wa nt dont see that information, but they want to be able tojudge how bad things are going to get and they wa nt things are going to get and they want to be able tojudge your governments performance against that target. So based on the decisions you have made, what is your expectation of the overall title of this virus, come the spring . On the first question, the a nswer spring . On the first question, the answer is a straightforward one, which is yes, people will get their second jobs, whether it is pfizer or astrazeneca. As you know, the Health Service has been asked following the medical advice from the independent regulator, thejoint medical advice from the independent regulator, the joint committee on vaccination sending and immunisations to keep the optimal gap between having your first and second dose, so within 12 weeks, because the data from the pfizerjab shows that after 12 days you have perhaps 90 plus of the benefit anyway. And as a result, it means we are able to offer vaccination to many more people with that pfizer dosing over the next several weeks. To make it personal, i havent asked my mum whether she mind me saying this, but my parents are both in their 80s, neither of whom have yet been offered the jab. As a consequence of doing this, but my mum and my dad will be able to get a first dose, where it had we not done this, it would havejust first dose, where it had we not done this, it would have just been one or the other. And on your question about the overall toll, i cant give you that number. It will be tragically far too high, as every death is a tragedy and we mourn every person we lose in this pandemic. But the number will of course depend on how successful we are in rolling out the Vaccine Programme. That will be one important thing. But also, perhaps even more importantly, it will depend on our continued ability to Work Together and to stop transmission. That is why we are having to do the measures we are at the moment. In a sense, it depends on all of us to follow the guidance to protect the nhs. That is the crucial thing. Go to sapphire sleigh of the evening standard. Crucial thing. Go to sapphire sleigh of the evening standardlj crucial thing. Go to sapphire sleigh of the evening standard. I would like to pick up on sir simons comments about London Hospitals, which are staring into the abyss right now. They are described as being less than two weeks from being overwhelmed, even under the best case scenario. Why wasnt more done to stop us ending up here and what are you doing right now to have the capitals hospitals . My second question is for all of you. When the vaccine was announced last year, many people expected that they would soon be able to see their elderly relatives and care home doors would be open within weeks. Can you spell out what the reality of the position is now . How long before grandmothers can be hugged, how long before care home residents can have a day out with their families . On your first point, sofia, the four chief medical officers for england and wales and scotla nd officers for england and wales and scotland and Northern Ireland said on monday that given the rising infections, particularly this new variant, without further action, there is a material risk of the nhs being overwhelmed in the next 21 days. That is why the risk level was raised, and we clearly are see that in london, which is why the London Hospitals are expanding the number of beds they have available. They are making use of the independent sector. The london nhs intends to open the london nightingale next week, which also will be used as one of our large Vaccination Centres so that londoners have the option of being vaccinated there. So there is no doubt that hospitals, gps, the London Ambulance service and the entirety of the Health Service in london is mobilising to do everything it can. But the rate of growth in admissions is what collectively, the country has to get under control. And on the way ahead, i want to repeat what i have been saying over the last couple of days. There are lots of conditionals for the february the 15th deadline. If the february the 15th deadline. If the Vaccine Programme goes ahead at the Vaccine Programme goes ahead at the speed we have been talking about this afternoon, if there are no new variants that we uncover that mean we have to change our plans again, if the vaccine remains efficacious and we have no reasons to think they are not at the moment, i do think that by february the 15th, i hope there will be the chance to look at some relaxations of restrictions. And as i have said, schools will be the priority. And to repeat, i do think, as chris whitty and others have said, i do think things will be much better by the spring and by april, things will be very different. But all that depends on the roll out of the Vaccine Programme which we have discussed and you will be hearing more about, but above all on our continued willingness to come together, protect the nhs, stay at home and save lives. Thank you all very much. Studio there we have it, the latest press co nfe re nce studio there we have it, the latest press conference with the Prime Minister. Lets recap on the main points from that downing street News Conference on coronavirus. On the vaccine roll out, the Prime Minister announced nearly 1. 5 Million People have now received their first doses ofa have now received their first doses of a vaccine. He added that there will be hundreds of thousands of jabs available per day by the 15th of january if all goes well, jabs available per day by the 15th ofjanuary if all goes well, opening more than 1000 Vaccination Centres across the uk. He also announced two newly discovered life saving drugs which have just passed newly discovered life saving drugs which havejust passed rigorous Clinical Trials. He had trouble naming one of them, it was a difficult pronunciation, so i am not going to try either he found that these drugs have cut deaths by a quarter in the sickest Covid Patients was that he said the drugs will be available in the nhs with immediate effect. Lets speak to our Political Correspondent Damian Grammaticas in westminster. Unapologetically ambitious, says the Prime Minister, but of course, politicians often get stuck when they set a target and then miss it. Yes, and it is important that the Prime Minister was obviously very keen to highlight the possibilities of the Vaccine Programme with the aim that by the middle of february, all the high risk groups should been offered one and everyone in care homes should have been offered one by the end of the month. But equally also to stress that there were caveats about whether there might be another variant of the virus that comes along, about the question of the supply of vaccines in the background. He said there shouldnt bea background. He said there shouldnt be a problem up until the middle of next month, but of course, that could be a limiting factor. And of course, appealing to people to come forward , course, appealing to people to come forward, because it depends on that as well. This is all important to him, because this week we have been put under a new lockdown and he wa nts to put under a new lockdown and he wants to hold out this possibility that the vaccine is the game changer, and that is important ina game changer, and that is important in a country where we have seen one of the highest numbers of covid fatalities in europe. And that is something positive to press at this point. We had brigadier phil prosser at their press conference, the command of delivery support and he gave us an idea of just of delivery support and he gave us an idea ofjust how ambitious they have had to be to set up these hundreds of centres where vaccines are going to be administered. Yes, and he was talking about approaching this like a military operation and thatis this like a military operation and that is something that the government wants to draw on, that sort of logistical expertise and that sense that this is a National Effort and as borisjohnson said, trying to throw everything at it. That was the key point up the idea of wanting to press the idea that the vaccine effort is ramping up as fast as it can and that by next week it could be in full swing. Damian, for the moment, thank you very much. Our Health Correspondent nick tribble is here listening to the press co nfe re nce tribble is here listening to the press conference as well. And one of the journalist asked the question about a message to those who believe that this is a hoax, that it is fake news that our hospitals are extraordinarily busy with Covid Patients. Sir simon stephens, the nhs chief executive was strong on this and called it an insult to hard working staff. This and called it an insult to ha rd working staff. We this and called it an insult to hard working staff. We have seen videos of people outside hospitals chanting that covid is a hoax and pictures have been posted on hospital corridors that are empty and one of the figures often picked out is the fact that one in ten beds are vacant, empty in hospitals, and thatis are vacant, empty in hospitals, and that is actually more vacant beds than the work this time last year, but that stat does not tell the full story. Its much more complex than that. Hospitals have had to be split into different areas for Covid Patients and non Covid Patients and for those patients who where there isa for those patients who where there is a suspicion of covid but they dont know yet. We have also seen increasing levels of staff sickness, and staff are also off with covid or having to self isolate. And this wriggle room created in hospitals has come at a huge cost. They are having to consul routine surgery cancel routine surgery as well as in some places urgent cancer care and they have opened up more intensive ca re they have opened up more intensive care beds, which are now a fifth higher than they were at the start of november, but they havent got extra intensive scare staff to look after these really sick patients, so intensive care nurses are having to look after three patients at a time when normally they would have to look at one and they are having to redeploy staff who are not used to working in these areas and having to convert elderly ca re working in these areas and having to convert elderly care wards and assessment areas into emergency intensive care areas and all other has taken a huge toll on staff. One in three patients who are in hospital in the uk have covid, and in london, it is one into, and this is really stretching the Health Service to the limit and that is why sir simon was so strong on that. The Prime Minister said something similar, that people who think this is something being made up, they need to grow up was the phrase he used and that is after all the reason we are facing these extra restrictions which were brought in just a few days ago, to protect the nhs as we did last march. Yes, it is the threat to the nhs that has really prompted the government to ta ke really prompted the government to take the step it did on monday. We saw the chief medical officer for the uk warning that the Health Service was a material risk, and while there is lots of good news and stuff to be positive about with the vaccinations, the coming weeks are going to be incredibly difficult. Infection rates have been rising although there was a slight fall today and this weeks infections are next weeks hospital admissions, so we have record numbers of Covid Patients in hospital, 53 higher than in the spring peak but these numbers are only going to go up so it will get worse for the Health Service before it gets better. Nick tribble, our Health Correspondent, thank you. A consultant biologist at the leicester Royal Infirmary and we can speak to him now. Welcome to bbc news. What is your view on the achieve ability of the vaccine roll out programme that the government has set out . Good evening. I think it will be very difficult. We are now only five weeks or so away from this deadline and youve still got perhaps 12 or 13 Million People to vaccinate, that is over 2 million doses a week. I truly hope they can make this deadline with all the different sites being set up and it might well accelerate towards the end of the deadline, but i wonder whether there isa deadline, but i wonder whether there is a real need for such a tight deadline. Even the end of february might be more reasonable and achievable and hopefully wont result in any mistakes being made. For example, i heard that the cheque for the vaccine might be accelerated, but thats an important step to make sure that there is nothing infectious in the vaccine, any kind of failure of preparation. We are in the home straight now and we wa nt we are in the home straight now and we want to squeeze the virus by reducing these susceptible is from the vaccine site and also from the lockdown and try to get that virus in the middle to bring the numbers down because as your previous correspond was saying, the numbers will go up before they go down again and this last bit is very important. We dont want to have any problems with the vaccine that makes people lose confidence about the vaccine and given the fact we have gone to one dose first, for a longer second dose, there are lots of bits of the confidence being shipped out through the Vaccine Programme and we dont wa nt the Vaccine Programme and we dont want anything going wrong because a massive roll out at speed is something we dont want going wrong if we can help it. A lot of eminent medics and scientists have said they are not troubled by the extension of the gap between receiving the first and second dose, and they may even have a longer immunity if you allow a greater period of time between the two, so a lot of your colleagues are not unduly concerned. Yes, and in that sense, im not either. Ive actually said that that the first doseis actually said that that the first dose is fine and the prolongation of the second dose is fine but the thing is people see this as going away from the Clinical Trials and evidence and the pfizer statement didnt help, so we dont want to undermine the process further. Just to be clear, ifully agree undermine the process further. Just to be clear, i fully agree with my collea g u es to be clear, i fully agree with my colleagues that the first dose only will do most of the work and induce most of the immunity. The second dose, if it is prolonged, it should be fine, because you might get boosting from circulating in the community and that is fine and i agree with that, but what we dont wa nt to agree with that, but what we dont want to happen is anything untoward during this last vaccination step that might shake the confidence in the population any further. And there have been lots of questions that i have been interviewed about about the first dose only and second dose prolonged interval as well. Targets a re dose prolonged interval as well. Targets are always a stick to beat yourself with if you are the person setting them and failing to meet them, but when you are trying to save peoples lives and protect the nhs, get the economy going again, surely you would want the government to be ambitious with the roll out and set a high barfor themselves. Yes, and throughout the pandemic the government has set very high bars and given out lots of deadlines of which relatively few have been met, so given that history i would just advocate a bit of caution about this deadline. Thats all im saying. And hopefully dont rush things and undermine the vaccination process itself, which i think will be very effective once you get it out there. Assuming that we can get the supplies coming into gp surgeries and all of these other hundreds of sites we were hearing about that the army were involved in setting up, so logistically it can be delivered, but it does require us, the public though to take the vaccine when it is offered, doesnt it . We are not going to achieve that figure of Something Like 70 uptake which a lot of medics want to see unless people come forward. Exactly. There are two things. One is that there is more evidence that past infection induces significant immunity for six months or even longer with the memory response but we night to persuade people who are not keen on the vaccine, the anti baxters, to try and take that to increase that id immunity overall to squeeze the virus some more so when you come out of the lockdown you can have a 16 relaxation of that relaxation if you see what i mean, instead of seeing the virus more when you come out and relax like before christmas a sustained relaxation. Then you would have another roll out later on reaching herd immunity with the vaccine, so that is what we are aiming for, with the virus being squeezed by the vaccine on one side and the lockdown squeezing it on the other side to reduce the pool of susceptible people to make sure the virus doesnt bounce back or rebound into that population because the herd immunity has not reached a critical level. Just briefly, finally, how important is it that everybody until we have got that large uptake, that large Cross Section of the population immunised that we still carry on with those good habits we have been hearing about since last march . Yes, so we have two keep to the restrictions in the lockdown, its very uncomfortable and claustrophobic and very disturbing for a lot of people but if we can hold our nerve, we can reduce that space for the virus to multiply and replicate until we get everybody vaccinated. That is what we wa nt everybody vaccinated. That is what we want to see. Professor, thank you very much. Now its time for a look at the weather. Last night was the coldest night across england and wales since february 2019, with temperatures as low as 9c. Things are staying the same for the rest of today. Weve got more sleet and snow in the forecast, but not everywhere. This was the picture in staffordshire. Quite a lot of mistiness around. Mist and fog is lingering in quite a few areas. Quite a lot of ice out there, as well. Through the rest of today, the weather is dominated by the cold front which is slipping very steadily and slowly further south, it brought snow to scotland and Northern Ireland overnight. Snowfall over parts of Northern England into wales and the north midlands, as well, nothing too heavy for most. But there could be about ten centimetres over the top of the pennines, followed by further wintry showers in scotland, rain showers in Northern Ireland and feeling cold out there with temperatures struggling above freezing. It should remain largely dry for the south east and east anglia into the evening, and overnight the weather front pushes further snow over parts of Northern England into wales, maybe the north midlands. Temperatures below freezing for many, may be as low as 10 in the sheltered glens of scotland. Tomorrow, the slow moving weather front is sticking around bringing further accumulations of snow to parts of Northern England and the midlands and into wales, several centimetres possible, and also rain and sleet mixed in. Especially further east towards lincolnshire. To the south, mostly dry and the odd flurry of snow especially to the south west, drier and brighter for scotland and Northern Ireland but whereever you are it is feeling cold once again. Most of us just a few degrees above freezing. Saturday, a mostly dry day, watch out for the frost and icy conditions, there will be a milder weather to the far north west of scotland. Sunshine around during the day, the odd patch of fog lingering, temperatures 4 5c, so slightly less cold than it has been. Similar picture on sunday, the wind is a more westerly airflow so slightly milder, more cloud from western and northern areas, the best of the sunshine in the south and west, and quite chilly but not as cold as it has been. Tonight at six joe biden is confirmed as the next president of the United States just hours after the violence and rioting by Trump Supporters that shocked the world. Hundreds stormed Congress Last night as lawmakers were certifying the election result President Trump has been blamed for inciting the violence. This president bears a great deal of the blame. This mob was in good part President Trumps doing. A gunshot rang out as protestors closed in. Four people died in the violence. Dozens of protesters have been arrested but many remain defiant. I feel very privileged that i was a part of yesterday