At high-tech facilities in Oxford and Wrexham, consignments of vaccine are brewing in 1,000-litre bioreactors. The process takes four to six weeks and staff at the two companies manufacturing the vaccine — produced by Oxford University and its commercial partner, AstraZeneca — will be working over Christmas to keep supplies flowing.
Elsewhere around the country, doctors and nurses are on standby, mass vaccination sites are ready, stockpiles are growing of plastic syringes, rubber gloves, alcohol swabs and bins for used needles.
The world’s specialist glass manufacturers are turning out borosilicate vaccine vials by the million. Resistant to shattering at extreme temperatures, the vials are needed for the billions of 25ml doses that will be administered to entire populations around the globe.
Britain may be only