Vaccine will cost the govt £600 million

[JacobReesMogadishu]

It’s mind boggling the amount of money. That’s for everyone to be vaccinated in the U.K.

What happens if it turns out you need it every year? Can the govt afford £600 million a year? Will we have to buy our own if we want one. Think it equates to £20 a dose that the govt have to pay Pzfifer.......not sure if the £600 million is just the cost of the drug or also includes paying people to transport and administer it?

If that's what it takes to open the economy up and save on furlough costs etc then it's a small price.

If they can afford to give their mates billions for failed testing contracts, that is the best 600 million they'll ever spend.

Lockdown has cost billions.... That's thousands of millions.

For context the day the good news was given the uk Mrkets grew by 80 billion pounds... 600 million is pocket change!

I’d call that great value for money if it saves thousands of lives and gets the country up and running again!

The Oxford vaccine will be much cheaper (and logistically easier I think) so let’s hope for good news from there.

Lockdown had cost 210 billion up until august!

Peanuts to a government that. They spend that on infrastructure projects.

HS2 is likely to cost £90bn.

If it works and it gets everyone back to normal again then it’s money we’ll spent.

Worth it for normal life. I'd happily pay more than that too.

Worth noting that we would pay a lot less for the UK developed ones, Oxford's one is under £2/head I think.

It’s exceptional vfm compared to lockdowns and/or NHS implosion.

Absolutely great value for money!

By the way, the £600m is just the cost of the drug, the costs to transport it are extra (this is why the military were given legal capability recently to help with distribution), plus £12.58 per dose to the GPs - at 2 doses that's £25 extra.

Mouse fart in the big scheme of things

The moonshot testing contract was / is £1 Billion so it's a drop in the ocean.

When the NHS is sold next year it’ll cover the cost ( for the first year at least. )

I get it’s cheaper than furlough costs and will be worth it to get the economy running. Just worried it’ll be an ongoing annual thing, not a one off. But, yes maybe it’s still small change.

I did hear the Oxford vaccine will only be £2 a shot, fingers crossed it’s equal as effective.

In that case @JacobReesMogadishu I’d happy give them £2 not to have it

It will get cheaper and they've already pissed millions up the wall for furlough.

£10 per head - or 50, or 60 - compared to public spending per head on everything else is inconsequential. Particularly when you compare it to the costs of having thousands of seriously ill people in hospital for weeks on end.

You do realise where the government gets its money from, don't you? You are paying for the vaccine anyway! The government pay for nothing - you pay for everything.

I think those who can, should pay - means tested so that people who need it free. I would be more than happy to pay for a vaccination for such an awful disease for little more than a bottle of wine!

@AlwaysLatte

I think those who can, should pay - means tested so that people who need it free. I would be more than happy to pay for a vaccination for such an awful disease for little more than a bottle of wine!

Disagree. It is in the interests of all of us for as many people to have it as possible. Lots of people won’t want it anyway - concerns about safety, or just not bothered about catching covid. Payment of any kind would be a disincentive to people getting the jab and so I think it should be free to all.

@Moondust001

You do realise where the government gets its money from, don't you? You are paying for the vaccine anyway! The government pay for nothing - you pay for everything.

Yes. Which is one of my concerns......the spiralling, never ending costs which we’re all going to be paying for for decades.

I mean a vaccine will be amazing, going back to normal will be amazing and the only way out of this mess.....I totally get that. But I feel sick about the future with higher taxes, less public spending, etc.

I mean a vaccine will be amazing, going back to normal will be amazing and the only way out of this mess.....I totally get that. But I feel sick about the future with higher taxes, less public spending, etc

We've had this for the last 10 years and voted for it 4 times!!!! so no real change.

Perhaps over time the vaccine will be free for the over 60s and £10 -£15 for everyone else?

Even though it sounds a lot, £600m is less than 0.5% of the current NHS budget

Like all preventative medicine, it’ll cost far less that what we would need to spend to deal with the consequences of not having it

Is that significant a sum of money given the BILLIONS they've spent propping up incomes and the economy? Seems good value to me.

Thats nothing compared to what they have already spent.

Absolute bargain.