Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 03 December 2020
I will be really quick, but we will set this out in more detail. There are a couple of principal reasons why we have got so quickly to the authorisation to supply the vaccine, compared with previous experiences and, if you like, normal practice. One of those is the fact that just about the entire global scientific and research community has been focused on the matter for many months. As we know, with the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, the researchers had a bit of a template to start from on coronaviruses, although not specifically on Covid-19, and I think that they would say that it gave them a bit of a head start.
The other main element is the significant focus on the funding of all that research and work from Governments across the UK, as well as globally.
In addition, the regulatory authority has run a parallel process, so it looked at the data from the phase 1 clinical trials as they happened and then at phases 2 and 3 as they happened, so it has been able to review the data almost in parallel with the clinical trials as they have occurred. All of that has concertinaed the process that led up to the stage that we are now at.
Of course, work continues, and it will continue, as we vaccinate across the UK and elsewhere, to see how effective the vaccine is—for example, in preventing transmission. The MHRA continues its process in order to move from authorisation to supply and full licence, which Ms Harper asked about.
I will be happy to set out the full detail of that and will ensure that, in the first piece of information that Mr FitzPatrick circulates to MSPs, we set out in more detail and with greater expertise than I have offered exactly how that whole process has worked.