Dr Roshan Ravindran, owner of Klnik, a private clinic in Wilmslow, Cheshire, spoke about how some of the wealthiest Brits are looking to splash the cash to get access to the jab ahead of the queue. But at present, only the NHS receives stock of the Pfizer vaccine, which remains the only approved vaccine candidate in the UK.
He told the Sunday Times how those looking to pay for the vaccine are often people who are desperate.
Dr Ravindran said: “I had someone say, ‘I’ll give you £2,000 for the vaccine’.
“People inquiring of it often have had a relative who has passed away — the virus hasn’t been selective.
“The poor and rich have all been affected and all lacked control. And so now what people are looking for is a degree of control.”
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But Dr Ravindran added to the Sunday Times that while turning down wealthy clients is “priceless”, it won’t be long until they could pay to skip the queue.
He said: “Every vaccine at the moment has been bought by a government. We’ll probably start getting a private supply from April.
“People will come up with a vaccine the government won’t buy — then flood the market. Every drug company is trying to come up with a vaccine.”
The doctor went on to suggest some private vaccines could charge premium prices of up to “£10,000, £15,000, £20,000 for a jab.”
It comes as Government Ministers have suggested the Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine could be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) by Monday.
day Telegraph reported the Oxford jab, should it be approved, will be rolled out on January 4.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said: “We must now give the MHRA the time to carry out its important work and we must wait for its advice.”
But Pascal Soriot, the Chief Executive of AstraZeneca, hailed their vaccine as equally effective as Pfizer and Moderna’s on Saturday.
He said to the Sunday Times: “We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else. I can’t tell you more because we will publish at some point.”
The UK recorded a further 34,693 cases and 210 deaths yesterday, for a total of 2,256,005 and 70,405 respectively.
Experts have renewed calls for a third lockdown to tackle the soaring infection rates, caused by a new strain of COVID-19 found to be significantly more infectious than the original virus.
But Government sources told the Daily Mail between 12 million to 15 million people must receive the vaccine in order to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed.
Some officials believe this group can be vaccinated by the end of February, with a source adding: “The path to liberation is finally becoming clear.”
