Matt Hancock: ‘More than enough’ Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to offer to under-30s

Courtesy: BBC Breakfast. No pre-roll ads. Max 60 secs use. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has stressed the effects of long Covid on under-30s who may be hesitant over receiving a coronavirus vaccine. He told BBC Breakfast: “The vaccines are safe, and if you want to have the Pfizer vaccine or Moderna vaccine instead then that is fine.”

Video Transcript

MATT HANCOCK: We have more than enough of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine to be able to offer all those who are under 30 one of those two vaccines. There are 10.1 million people aged between 18 and 29 in this country in the UK, and 1.6 million of them have already been vaccinated. That leaves around 8 and 1/2 million people. And we have more than enough Pfizer and Moderna vaccine.

Long COVID affects people in their 20s just as much it seems as any other age group and can have debilitating side effects. The safety system that we have around this vaccine is so sensitive that it can pick up events that are one– that are four in a million. I’m told this is about the equivalent risk of taking a long-haul flight.