Annual vaccination could be needed to deal with future coronavirus variants, says NHS chief

Annual vaccination programmes may be needed to deal with coronavirus variants that emerge in the future, an NHS chief has warned.

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said the current vaccines appeared to be “perfectly adequate” in providing protection against the different variants that have been recently identified.

However, scientists have warned that Sars-CoV-2 – the virus responsible for Covid-19 – will continue to further mutate as it continues to spread throughout the global population.

"Other strains of the virus will emerge – that's what happens with viruses, they mutate,” Prof Powis told BBC Breakfast.

"Every year flu is a little bit different and we adapt our flu vaccines each year to cope with that.

"I think it's perfectly possible that over time the Covid vaccine will need to be adapted from year to year to deal with new strains.”

So far, three variants of concern have been detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil, though scientists remain optimistic that the Covid-19 vaccines will generate high levels of protection against these mutated forms of the virus.

The mRNA technology used by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines has also helped to alleviate concerns surrounding the emergence of future variants.

Both candidates are easily adaptable and can be tweaked in a matter of weeks to neutralise the different mutations that may surface in Sars-CoV-2.

"The good news is that we're using new technology with these new vaccines and that can be done very quickly,” Prof Powis said.

"So yes it is likely that there may have to be frequent, maybe annual, like flu vaccine programmes, which will deal with these new variants, but it's a bit too early to be absolutely sure yet."

Research has already suggested that the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech appears to work against a key mutation in the highly transmissible new coronavirus variants discovered in the UK and South Africa.

The not-yet-peer-reviewed study by Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch indicated the vaccine was effective in neutralising virus with the so-called N501Y mutation of the spike protein.

The mutation is believed to heighten transmissibility and there had been concern it could also help the virus to escape antibody neutralisation elicited by the Covid-19 vaccines.

In the UK, 3,857,266 people have so far received a first vaccine dose, with the government aiming to inoculate the top four priority groups – roughly 13.5 million people – by mid-February.

Despite this progress, pressure on the NHS is continuing to reach new heights, Prof Powis said.

"We have over 30,000 patients with Covid in our hospitals,” he said. “We've seen 15,000 come in since Christmas Eve, so that's the equivalent of well over 20 hospitals.

"I don't think the NHS has ever been under such pressure in any winter, but our staff are responding magnificently.”

The UK’s mass vaccine programme will not have an impact on hospital admissions or death rates until "well into February," he added.

"For the next few weeks and into February, it's really important that everybody sticks to those social distancing guidelines," Prof Powis said.

"The vaccine programme gives us hope, but it's not going to impact on deaths or hospital admissions until well into February."

Separately, the UK’s the vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has said that 24-hour vaccination sites will be piloted in London before the end of January.

Mr Zahawi said the NHS will be "targeting forensically who we want to protect" to ensure the most vulnerable people can be vaccinated first.