A cabinet minister sought to argue this morning that Britain had approved a coronavirus vaccine early because it was “a much better country” than other western nations, while the deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said that he had told his mother to get the jab.
Despite the approval of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday, Professor Van-Tam extended his favoured football metaphor to argue that people should stick with social distancing rules until spring.
“It’s clear in the first half the away team gave us a battering. They got a goal, and in the 70th minute we have now got an equaliser . . . We have got to hold our nerve,” he told the BBC as part of interviews to encourage confidence in the vaccine.