The ongoing national response to COVID-19, including the rollout of the vaccine, is a testament to the hard work of our NHS staff, care workers, key workers, scientific researchers and all members of the public following government guidance to keep each other safe. It has also highlighted that UK based scientific research is at the forefront of global development. The approval of the Oxford vaccine was a massive step forward in the worldwide fight against coronavirus and is a tribute to the incredible UK scientists at Oxford University and AstraZeneca, whose work is helping to save lives around the world and here in the UK.

All of the vaccines currently approved in the UK are very effective against current and previous dominant strains of coronavirus, giving very high protection against severe disease, with good safety profiles. The impact of the Omicron variant on the effectiveness of the vaccine is still being understood, but it is reassuring that recent studies have found that protection against hospitalisation after a booster is around 88 per cent. 

Now more than ever, when people are called forward, they should absolutely accept the offer to get their vaccination and booster vaccination. Vaccines are the best way out of this pandemic, provide strong protection against COVID-19 and have already saved thousands of lives.

Getting vaccinated won’t make you show up as positive on PCR tests. That’s because these tests look for copies of the genetic material of the virus as an indication of infection. Vaccines only show a part of the coronavirus to our immune systems to trigger a reaction, and at most may only contain a very small part of the complete genetic material of the virus, and so won’t get detected by these tests. Moreover, the virus can only be present in a significant amount when it is a live virus that is able to replicate. The small part of the pathogen’s genetic material contained within some types of vaccine cannot replicate and therefore cannot cause infection or trigger a positive PCR test result.

I understand that, at the beginning of development, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine development team sought funding from research grant funds. However, shortly afterwards the Government announced funding for clinical trials for vaccine, which benefited the Oxford team who were able to commence trials very quickly thereafter. 

Let me be absolutely clear: injecting mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) into a person does not do anything to the DNA of a human cell. mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases. They teach our cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response to a virus, which protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies. It is not possible for the vaccine to amend our DNA and it is extremely irresponsible to promote this false information.

It is absolutely not the case that pharmaceutical companies created COVID-19 for their own profit, and it is extremely irresponsible for people to promote these lies. Pharmaceutical companies have been working hard to establish treatments and vaccines for this virus; in fact, AstraZeneca have pledged not to profit from the vaccine during the pandemic.

Before use, vaccinations are extensively trialled under a variety of conditions, before undergoing a robust and independent analysis process. The benefits associated with vaccinations are overwhelming, and as such I strongly disagree with any group or individual seeking to discourage people from protecting themselves and others from potentially fatal illnesses including coronavirus. I believe that there is more than adequate information about contents of vaccines, including in patient information leaflets, and fundamentally disagree that any organisation involved with the UK's vaccination programme is anything other than transparent.

During trials for the COVID-19 vaccine, one volunteer had become ill with transverse myelitis 14 days after the second dose of the vaccine. This was in less than 0.1 per cent of trial volunteers. The European Medicines Agency report on this issue states that if indeed there is an association between transverse myelitis and vaccines, it is less than 1 per million doses, which is a lower level than the annual incidence of transverse myelitis in the population as standard; moreover, these diseases occur more frequently with infections than they do with the vaccination. The safety profile of the vaccines remains positive, and the benefits continue to far outweigh any known side-effects. 

Regarding concerns of COVID-19 vaccinations being administered intravenously, and therefore incorrectly, I would like to reassure you that NHS guidance is clear on delivery methods. Each vaccine approved in the UK must be administered by ‘intramuscular injection only, preferably in the deltoid muscle of the upper arm’. I fully support our NHS and know that this guidance is being followed meticulously. If you have any further questions concerning the vaccine, I would advise you ask your local healthcare practitioner.