WITH HOPES high a Covid-19 vaccine is now on the horizon, one Fermanagh man who signed up for the vaccine trials has said he believes it will have a high uptake locally.
Yesterday UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS was ready to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, that was revealed at the beginning of the week, as soon as it was known to be safe.
He said the vaccine, which is touted as being up to 90 percent effective, could be available as early as Christmas, however urged patience as it is unclear how many people will need to be inoculated before life can return to normal.
There are also fears that, with growing ‘anti-vax’ sentiment over the past number of years, as well as safety concerns at the speed at which the vaccine was developed, not enough people will take the jab to bring the virus under control.
Cllr Sheamus Greene said he believed, as soon as it was proven to be safe through robust testing, people here in Fermanagh would be willing to take the jab for the good of the community.
“I believe there will be enough people who will be just so relieved that there is something to help us get back to normal life,” he said.
Cllr Greene had signed up to NHS volunteer database for vaccine trials earlier this year, however he wasn’t chosen as he did not fall in any of the ‘at risk’ groups the researchers wanted to study. He told the Herald he had signed up for what could have been a risky trial “to try to get life back to normal, not only for myself, but for everyone else.”
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