What will we do with excess vaccines?

[starfish4]

Given we have orders in for vaccines in excess of what we need, and also the fact some of those big orders are able to be supplied, what will we do with any excess vaccines? Re-vaccinate any early people with what seems like a better vaccine that's come along, give to poorer countries or any other options?

We don’t know how long immunity of the vaccines will last. People may need to be revaccinated every 6 to 12 months.

How many vaccines do we have and over what period?

We need to make sure all the British dependent territories have been done.

We don't know whether any further shots will be needed after the first two, but if they are we need to plan for that. But we still won't need as many as we have (potentially) got coming.

They should either be redistributed through COVAX, or we agree a pause with the manufacturers with whom we have contracts, allowing them to reprioritise orders (but can reactivate supply to us, with suitable notice, in future). What is possible depends on exactly what the contracts stipulate, of course.

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves; we don't yet know exactly how well they work, how often they'll be needed and a number of other things

However if we have more than we need, that offers a chance to help others once the UK's covered. It's said that we've given more then the entire EU and US to Covax, so the obvious one's the EU ... and bearing in mind the trade negotiations going on, "spare" vaccines could be useful in more ways than one

I think we should prioritise Ireland

We should see which countries requires it the most and if we got the shots to them it would make a difference.

There's is no guarantee they will all come on stream. AZ is being tested for teens currently and then under 12's do nay get diverted for them whilst the others are used for adults. Plenty of countries need help, we can then offer them to for instance healthcare workers in the poorest countries.

They don’t deliver them all in one go - it’ll be a contract with Big Pharma for however much they need, and will just draw down on that stock as required. So the Pharma company holds the physical stock for the most part.