Two new vaccines on the way – with more to follow this year

Half of UK adults have had a first jab, and future supplies of millions of doses look assured

Two very different jabs have been responsible for inoculating Britain’s strikingly high number of vaccine recipients – with more than half of the country’s adult population having now received a first dose and several million people having received second doses. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine uses pieces of the Covid virus’s genetic code which, after injection, enter cells and instructs them to start making pieces of virus protein, which stimulate a person’s immune system. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine uses a chimp cold virus (genetically engineered so it cannot trigger infection in people) which has been re-modified to carry viral genes into cells so they make pieces of Covid-19 viruses – and stimulate immune systems.

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