hello, good morning. you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: more generous grades and advance notice of topics are some of the measures for pupils sitting exams in england next summer because of the disruption caused by coronavirus. you'll be seeing students performing better than a cohort in 2019. the first doses of the pfizer coronavirus vaccine could arrive in the uk soon. the first 800,000 doses will be given in hospitals. and we'll be putting your questions on vaccines to england's deputy chief medical officer, professor jonathan van—tam, very shortly in a special edition of ‘your questions answered'. students in england face a staggered return to university

after christmas to avoid a surge in coronavirus cases. new plans to ban the export of live animals from england and wales — to be slaughtered abroad — by the end of 2021. good morning, and welcome to the bbc news at 9. the first doses of the pfizer/biontech coronavirus vaccine are due to arrive in the uk today. a mass vaccination programme will begin next week, after the uk became the first country in the world to approve the jab yesterday. we're going straight now to a special edition of your questions answered with england's deputy chief medical officer, jonathan van—tam, in which i'm joined by my 5live colleague rachel burden.

good morning and welcome to this special edition. your call on bbc radio 5 live, and your questions answered on the bbc news channel. the first doses of the corronavirus vaccine from pfizer and biontech could arrive in the uk today — the first country in the world to approve it. england's deputy chief medical officer, jonathan van—tam, is with us to answer your questions about the vaccine. so, what do you want to know? and i'm annita mcveigh. good morning to you and your listeners, it is good to be with you today. we're going to get through as many of your questions as we can over the next half hour,

from how the vaccine works to how it'll be distributed, and what it might mean for your life. if you've got a question forjonathan van—tam, you can text on 85058. or use the hashtag #bbcyourquestions on social media. good morning, professorjonathan van—tam. thank you for your time this morning. before we start, is it jvt, jonathan, what was your mum called you? she calls me jonny, but you can call me whatever you like.” think the professor is probably appropriate for us this morning. henrietta is co—owner of a care home in teignmouth. what would you like to ask? we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the vaccine, but given the speed of its development, the fact we are the

only country so far satisfied with its safety and of course a lot of negative messaging on social media, some of our staff and residents families have some anxieties about the vaccine being given to themselves or their loved ones. how would you reassure them that the vaccine is safe for them and for our residents, some of whom may be very frail? yes, 0k, thank you. i completely understand the anxieties. i think what i would do is tackle this in three ways. number one, to tell you plain and straight that i genuinely have said to my 78—year—old mum, who is probably listening now, that you must have this vaccine or any of the vaccines that the mhra approves as soon as they are available. this is really important because you are so at risk. so that is a kind of personal

peace, if you like. i risk. so that is a kind of personal peace, if you like. lam risk. so that is a kind of personal peace, if you like. i am very confident in the assessments the mhra makes. and the next piece is, if you witness the press briefing from the mhra from professor wei shen lim and drjune raine from the mhra and sirmunir shen lim and drjune raine from the mhra and sir munir pirmohamed yesterday, it was a superb and astonishing briefing which really brought out the thoroughness and the rigour and the caution with which each of these bodies,, to or agencies have taken towards getting this right. i looked at the screen andl this right. i looked at the screen and i thought, you know what, between them, there is more than 100 years of medical experience gathered

in one place. passing on the wisdom of the work that they have done with the teams behind them. and i thought that was really impressive. and on the point about us being first, well, i started focusing on getting vaccines for the uk back in march. it began with a series of phone calls between myself and the government chief scientific adviser sir patrick vallance and it was before the formation of the vaccine taskforce which has done a brilliant, brilliant job. that taskforce which has done a brilliant, brilliantjob. that is how early we thought about this and thatis how early we thought about this and that is how soon we began to kind mobilise thinking about how we could get these vaccines. because we felt if they came along, they may well turn the tide in some way. so we we re very turn the tide in some way. so we were very organised. and i don't

actually think the us for the european regulators will be very many days behind us in authorising the pfizer vaccine. i really don't. thank you so much, so many questions about safety and it was really important to kick off with that. our thanks to henrietta in ten men. thanks from us at news channel and many viewers praising you for your communication. one of the things you said a few weeks ago which stuck in my mind was the mother test and you said you set your own mum that if she got a call to go for a vaccine, to make sure she was at the front of the queue and the next question we have concerns mums. clair asks: "both my 90—year—old mother and 94—year—old mother—in—law live in their own home. will they be prioritised as one of the first to get the vaccine,

the same as elderly who are in care homes? how will they get it?" thank you for the question. it is a very important question. so, the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation, jcvi, is completely independent. but the government takes its advice extremely seriously. and follows it, frankly. now, the top priority that the jcvi has identified our care homes. for older people. and also, the workers and care homes. and the reason for thatis and care homes. and the reason for that is that the death toll in care homes has been awful in the first wave and we want to stop people dying. and it is notjust about the people in the care homes. it is the fa ct people in the care homes. it is the fact that they are concentrated together, lots of vulnerable people living together. that is one of the factors. and it is very true that

the two relatives that you call the mentioned, who are going to be really at very substantial risk from coronavirus because of their age, if they are living on their own, they are not living in the same conditions as in a care home, where spread from one to another can occui’. spread from one to another can occur. and that is different epidemiologically. nevertheless, the next priority group are everybody aged 80 and over. your two relatives will definitely be part of that. and i expect there to be some blending of priority one and priority two in the real—life deployment of the vaccine. and that is because it doesn't make any sense to kind of go, well, very strictly until we

have done every last care home, we are not going to touch anybody who is 80 and above not in a care home, it doesn't work that way. several things play into that. one is that we can't waste vaccine. number two is that the bigger principle is go as fast as you can with the volumes you can to get people protected. and so, yes, they are absolutely eligible. now, there is a technical issue related to the pfizer vaccine that we currently expect to receive very shortly in the uk and i do mean in us and not days. then there is a technical issue related to the cold storage. and it does have to be held because it is quite a delicate vaccine, it has to be held at —70, which is ultra, ultra deep freeze. and once it comes out of —70 to

defrost, it has to be stored at 2-8 c -- defrost, it has to be stored at 2—8 c —— degrees centigrade, normal fridge temperature, that sounds dead simple andl fridge temperature, that sounds dead simple and i think i used the yoghurt analogy yesterday at number 10 at briefing. but this is where the similarity ends. it is not like a yoghurt that you can just take out of the fridge and put back in the fridge, take out of the fridge and put back in the fridge and it kind of doesn't matter, it is still fine to eat. this is one where there are strict rules about the number of times that the vaccine can be taken out of the fridge and moved into what we call ambient room temperature is. and so it is going to make it very, very difficult, in fa ct, to make it very, very difficult, in fact, not viable, to take it into individual people's homes if they are housebound. however, they will be able to go to mass vaccination

centres or hospitals according to a syste m centres or hospitals according to a system that i don't have the details of, but the nhs is working on. but hopefully, we would get the astrazeneca oxford vaccine quite soofi. astrazeneca oxford vaccine quite soon. i am hopeful. can i ask about that, professor van—tam ? soon. i am hopeful. can i ask about that, professor van—tam?” soon. i am hopeful. can i ask about that, professor van-tam? ijust need to finish this point, i am very sorry. i'm going to finish. one can be held at 2—8 all the way through and it is much easier to split into smaller quantities and probably can go into people's homes.” smaller quantities and probably can go into people's homes. i wasjust going to ask on the oxford one, i was getting a little bit excited there because there is some discussion that might be given approval before christmas, can you give any indication about that one? lam give any indication about that one? i am hopeful, give any indication about that one? lam hopeful, again, that that give any indication about that one? i am hopeful, again, that that would happen. but it is entirely out of my hands. it is in the hands of the regulator, the mhra. they take a

very firm line and we take a very firm line that they are independent, that they must do what they do in their own that they must do what they do in theirown time. that they must do what they do in their own time. and if that takes them a few weeks, that's fine. if it has to take them a few months because they have got to ask further questions or they need more data from the manufacturer, that is also fine. we go at the speed of science on that one, we do not rush them in any way, shape or form. that is utterly wrong because they have to get it right on effectiveness, efficacy, they have to get it wrong —— right on safety and they have to get it right on the quality of the manufacture of the product as well. all three have got to be right. otherwise, we don't do it. absolutely, understood. we have to continue the theme of mums, your mum was mentioned. in aberdeenshire this morning, terry wants to talk about her mum. terry, can you hear us? we

may have lost connection, we will see if we can come back to that in a moment. there is a question about how quickly after this vaccine and we know it is only effective after pretty much a month when you have had the first dose, how soon after that can you hug your mum or your dad or your granny or your grandad, professor van—tam ? dad or your granny or your grandad, professor van-tam? 0k, thank you, the pfizer, the first we will get, isa the pfizer, the first we will get, is a two dose schedule. you are going to need one dose and another dose at least 21 days later. and you should not expect the vaccine to be protecting you from infection folly until probably seven to ten days after the second infection —— folly. that doesn't mean that in every single person we can assure complete protection. of course we can't. it would depend upon not to your

monies, but who you are in terms of how well you are going to respond to the vaccine. and i think until we are properly confident of how the vaccine works and properly confident that disease levels are dropping, that disease levels are dropping, that even if you have had the vaccine, you are going to need to continue to follow all the rules that apply for a while longer. and it is not something that we are going to leave people waiting on forever. but we have got to follow the signs, we have got to see the data that gives us the assurance that we can tell people they can relax in certain ways and have a fairly high degree of confidence that it fairly high degree of confidence thatitis fairly high degree of confidence that it is safe to do so —— we have got to follow the science. it is a new disease connect is a new vaccination programme, we have to ta ke vaccination programme, we have to take it step— by—step vaccination programme, we have to take it step—by—step and see carefully what it is going to a not

for us —— a new disease and a new vaccination programme. i give absolute reassurance that what can be unlocked will be unlocked, but we have to take it really carefully in the first instance. so do i think that the vaccine is going to give you, after you have had your two doses and you have waited ten days of the kind of confidence to just carry on as if nothing ever happened? carry on as if nothing ever happened ? absolutely not, carry on as if nothing ever happened? absolutely not, and i don't think that would be at all right. but will rediscover over time what we can relax, what things are cove red ? what we can relax, what things are covered? yes, of course we will. 0k, thatis covered? yes, of course we will. 0k, that is really interesting to hear, professor, and that fundamental message from you is that we have got this far in this pandemic, everyone needs to hold tight until this vaccine needs to hold tight until this vaccine programme can needs to hold tight until this vaccine programme can be rolled out fully and stick with those basic measures in the meantime to keep themselves and everyone else around themselves and everyone else around

them safe. this sounds like someone who wants to have the vaccination but has concerns around allergies. sharon asks: "i cannot have the flu jab because i have an allergic reaction to the inactive ingredients. how do i know i will not be allergic to the covid—19 vaccine, as we have not heard what the inactive ingredients are?" right. so, the inactive ingredients, as soon as we get those listings from the manufacturer, they will be properly made available by the mhra ina summary properly made available by the mhra in a summary of medical characteristics. so absolutely. and i think it is already available as pa rt of i think it is already available as part of the authorisation for the pfizer vaccine. but i have had another question, actually, that came to me via e—mail about egg allergy and could i have any of these vaccines? i am absolutely not aware of anything connected with

mike white reality with the vaccine coming forwards. professor van-tam, i have to say i have never seen anything like this before in terms of the numbers of messages coming through to us and sadly, we will not get close to a tiny proportion of them. iam get close to a tiny proportion of them. i am sure you get this all the time, but we will fly through as many as we can. sara in stockport, head teacher at inscape house school — a special needs school for children with autism. what would you like to ask? thanks very much, hello, professor. it is really kind of you to take the question. i work in a school for children and young people with autism and like all children across the country, they have had severe disruption to their education over the last 12 months and it continues. listening to the news this morning about the insistence by the government to continue with exams next summer, it just government to continue with exams next summer, itjust puts an government to continue with exams next summer, it just puts an awful lot of staff and children feeling quite anxious about what is to come.

to help address this, our teachers and school staff are likely to be prioritised for vaccine and if so, what timescales can they expect? i'm also interested in children and young people with disabilities who have been severely impacted notjust through disruption of education, but also lots of additional support and respite they have had since march, so will parents and carers of children with disability be able to be prioritised for the vaccine also to try to get some normality and routine back into their lives? yes, 0k, routine back into their lives? yes, ok, so let's chop the question up into two parts. the first part was about teachers, i believe, is that right? yes. yes, 0k. thejcvi phase one priority list is all about eliminating, or getting down to very low levels, deaths and

hospitalisations due to covid—19. and for that reason, it is very, very highly focused festival on care homes, then on age in decreasing order down to the age of 50, and also blended in their are adults of all ages who are clinically extremely vulnerable and have been told they are so as part of that programme. 0r told they are so as part of that programme. orwho told they are so as part of that programme. 0r who have at risk conditions typically the kind of at risk conditions we used to pick out people for flu vaccination every ten. there are no occupational groups on the phase one list. and if we can get through the phase one, and it is a highly effective vaccine and it is a highly effective vaccine and there is very, very high uptake, then we could in theory take out 99%

of hospitalisations and deaths related to covid—19. so you can see thatis related to covid—19. so you can see that is why the phase one list is what it is, that is the primary ambition. but it is a completely releva nt ambition. but it is a completely relevant question that we can't decide on yet because we don't have the data about how these vaccines will perform in real life. but it is very much on the government's mind that it will need to make some decisions about how to go further, whether to go further, and they will be ministerial decisions. the jcvi has identified that that second part of the programme could take into account occupations potentially. but if you are a teacher and you have an at—risk condition, you are going to be called in your place in the order in phase one. if you are a teacher he was 58 years of age, you are

going to be called in your place in phase one. so it is not kind of all or nothing. and on the point about children with learning disability and other special needs, the jcvi has already identified, and i don't go around memorising the lists so you'll have to forgive me, i don't haveit you'll have to forgive me, i don't have it all instantly on my fingertips, but i absolutely know that children with, sorry, adults with profound learning disabilities, severe with profound learning disabilities, severe learning disabilities and with down's syndrome are absolutely on the list. and that has been a careful pick through byjcvi to really look in great detail at who is at risk amongst the adult population from this disease.” is at risk amongst the adult population from this disease. i hope thatis population from this disease. i hope that is helpful. is that helpful? i think as far as teachers are concerned, it will be a kind of

watch and wait for your profession. yes, ican watch and wait for your profession. yes, i can see that, and for families as well, there will be some that fall into that phase one category. ijust see the impact every day of unfamiliar staff who have had to comment on agency staff, parents and crisis. please don't forget that formal health and social workers are also part of the phase one priority list. so it is certainly not that care workers are being forgotten here. formally engaged health and social workers are absolutely part of the programme. thank you so much for raising those issues. sara, in stockport. this is generating lots of comments from you, let me summarise the broad themes in these comments and questions, lots of viewers and listeners are saying, how should we behave between the two jabs of the

pfizer vaccine, should we continue in between to behave as we did before we got the first jab? in between to behave as we did before we got the firstjab? i think from the science briefing we saw yesterday, it is very clear you don't have full immunity up till —— until after you have had the second jab, ithink it until after you have had the second jab, i think it is seven days, correct me if i am wrong, professor. other people are saying where there are two injections required, as there are here, how can we ensure people follow through and get the second question but hopefully if they have had the first, they will be committed to getting the second as well. the next question is from a lane because people are looking ahead to life beyond hopefully the pandemic we have been in. —— elaine. elaine asks: "are there plans for some kind of certificate to show the holder has been vaccinated?" some international airlines, like qantas, are already saying they'll be asking for these. thank you for the question. so, there are definite plans to make sure that we absolutely no and it is

linked to health digital records who has had the vaccine, who has had one dose or two doses of two doses are required, and one coming down the tracks potentially for us may only require one dose, but most of them are two. which vaccine they had and when they had it. so your question was when they had it. so your question was actually about vaccination certificates. i don't think thinking is fully complete all has evolved to a point where i can give you any firm information on that. but what i can say is that there is an absolute intends to make sure that the it, if you like, that supports the vaccination programme means we have a very clear handle on who is getting it and when they are getting it. professor, thank you very much. i hope that answers your question clearly, elaine. rachel, as ever with these questions we do a series

of answering questions from viewers, you really see how this pandemic and how questions around the vaccine are having an impact on people's lives and all sorts of scenarios you might not have imagined come up and it is great that we are able to hopefully shed some light on the issues and the problems and challenges that people have. absolutely, and some of them, you pick up general themes coming through and others are very specific to personal situations. and clearly, we a re specific to personal situations. and clearly, we are not in a position to a nswer clearly, we are not in a position to answer all of those. but this is really important for everyone to know and understand the answer to this, from mark in northumbria, a doctor and a&e consultant, would you like to put your question 22? that morning, thank you very much, and thanks for taking the question, professor. —— thanks for taking the question, professor. — — put thanks for taking the question, professor. —— put your question to professor. —— put your question to professor van tan? we have not had a chance to look at the data that come out to appraise for ourselves and so i hope you can shed more light. it

is about the longevity of the immunity. it is great the mhra has passed this and it is all safe, but will two doses be enough and will it confer lifelong immunity, will it be annual like the flu jab or vaccination schedule where you need several top up booster dose to get you to that vaccination status? -- booster doses. it is very important question and the very important and says, we don't know yet. it is as simple that. obviously, these vaccine trials are hot off the press. there is this pressing public health need to get the vaccines into service. and already, we are seeing that after three months follow—up, then already, there is this massive protective effect. for example, from

the pfizer vaccine. what we don't know is how long that is going to last. i don't want to get to medical because of the other callers and viewers. but we do have already some data that these vaccines are going to stimulate t cell immunity as well asa to stimulate t cell immunity as well as a generation of antibodies. for non—medical viewers, that is a more innate general immunity to coronavirus that could be longer lasting, could be important. but we don't actually know yet how long protection will last for. i am confident it is going to be quite a few months at an absolute minimum and it could be longer, we just don't know. one of the things that public health england is going to do is very carefully monitor the impact of these vaccines. and we will, over

time, get early signals from public health england if vaccine protection is starting to wane and we're starting to see a resurgence of cases, perhaps after a year or two years, we just don't know. in people who have been vaccinated. at that point, yes, we will have to make some further decisions about when and how often we need to re—vaccinate. and that is one of the really good things about the vaccine taskforce. brilliant, brilliant group of people. i am really privileged to have worked with them. they have come together and thought about access to vaccines for the long—term. and they have therefore invested notjust in buying the pfizer vaccine and supporting and

buying astrazeneca vaccine, but five more that are coming down the tracks at different time points over 2021. and the whole purpose of that is that we can't say for certain yet whether we are going to need a flu—like revaccination programme. and we want to be in the best place to have further vaccines with which to have further vaccines with which to do that. if we need to. but that really is something for the future. it is really unknowable at this point. but it is very much something that i see now is one of the goal is onlyjust over the horizon to get my head around what if and if we will at any point in the future need to think about revaccination. but right now, let'sjust think about revaccination. but right now, let's just celebrate the fact that we have actually got some vaccines.

thank you for the interesting question and answer. val asks: what's your advice for pregnant women when it comes to having the vaccine? the manufacturers, all of the vaccine the manufacturers, all of the vaccine programmes the manufacturers, all of the vaccine programmes i think, have takena vaccine programmes i think, have taken a view that they wanted to exclude pregnant women from their clinical trials. and that basically means we don't have any data on the use of vaccine in pregnant women. but that isn't quite true. because of course you do have women of child—bearing age who volunteer as participants in trials, and for whatever reason, fall pregnant during the course of the trial. and they are very small numbers, there is an absolute obligation and

determination on the part of the manufacturers, the sponsors of the trials, to follow those women all the way through to delivery, and then to follow the babies for a period of time as well. so we don't have data at the moment in anything like a sufficient quantity, nor do we have any kind of danger signals either, we just don't have data and because of that there jcvi has taken a view that for now that vaccine should not be given to pregnant women and that is supported by the commission on human medicines, the advisory body to the regulator, to the mhra, and i think that is always right, to be safety first in everything we do. thank you so much and there are a lot of caveats around the vaccine but can you tell us where we are at, we love your analogy about the penalty shoot out so at what stage are we? if you want me to doa

so at what stage are we? if you want me to do a football analogy, i have thought about this, i would say that it is clear in the first half, the away team gave us an absolute battering and what we have done now it is the 70th minute, they got a goal and it is the 70th minute, they got a goaland in it is the 70th minute, they got a goal and in the 70th minute we have an equaliser. we have got to hold our nerve now, to see if we can get another goal and nick it but the key thing is not to throw it away at this point because we have a point on the board. from that perspective, what i'm saying is that we need more vaccines, but we also need people to realise that these are not an instant ticket out of anywhere at the moment. we are in for some hard winter months where people must continue to follow the guidance, they must continue to follow the

guidance whether or not they have had the vaccine. and let the scientists see how this vaccine programme is unfolding, how it is taking us into a different world, and we absolutely will give the signal to our politicians and decision makers of what the future is beginning to look like. hopefully much brighter but you may have to be patient until may be late spring on this one. thank you. that gives us some sense of perspective at how we look at the future but there is an urgent question for the immediate future, the next few weeks which jennifer in st albans would like to ask you. good morning. i have three children who are at home and they we re children who are at home and they were asking this morning about father christmas and wanting to know whether he will be front of the

queue to get the vaccine. absolutely! the jcvi made a very special case for father christmas and he will be at the top of the list. that's excellent. that is very reassuring to hear, thank you to jenniferfor that reassuring to hear, thank you to jennifer for that question. reassuring to hear, thank you to jenniferfor that question. i have to say, i have had the prime minister in the studio, debates on brexit and elections and i have never seen the volume of messages that have come through to us this morning for you in particular, and i think people are very much appreciate the fact that when they ask you a question or you are asked ask you a question or you are asked a question, they get a straight a nswer a question, they get a straight answer so thank you for your time this morning and we hope you get an opportunity to go and watch your beloved boston united before too long. absolutely! thank you very much. and we absolutely love a straight answer.