A bit more from the Commons Science and Technology Committee now, which is hearing evidence on the UK’s Covid response.
A scientist who helped develop the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine says the public crisis will be “over” if the protection provided by vaccines against hospital admissions continues.
Prof Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Groups, says Public Health England data published this week is “incredibly reassuring”.
The analysis suggests the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are both more than 90% effective at prevnting hospitalisation after two doses.
“That’s the key bit that we have to look at with future variants, if that very high protection against hospitalisation continues, despite spread in the community, then the public health crisis is over,” Prof Pollard tells MPs.
“And so far, up to Delta, we’re in a very good position, as long as we’ve got people vaccinated,” he adds, referring to the strain first identified in India.
But he warns that the World Health Organization is investigating variants up to Kappa, and “there are a lot more Greek alphabet letters still to go through”.
