The biggest vaccination programme in UK history has got under way with the phased roll-out of the Pfizer/Biontech Covid-19 jab.
The first dose of the vaccine was administered to a 90-year-old woman this morning. Patients aged 80 and over, care home staff and at-risk healthcare workers will be among the first to receive the jab in a programme being rolled out across all four of the UK's nations using hospital hubs, vaccination centres, doctors' practices and pharmacies.
"It will take some months to complete the work as more vaccine supplies become available and until then we must not drop our guard," NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said. "If we all stay vigilant in the weeks and months ahead, we will be able to look back at this as a decisive turning point in the battle against the virus."
The UK is the first country in the world to start using the vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and Germany's Biontech after it was approved by regulators last week. But its roll-out is unlikely to have any immediate impact on UK oil demand or the wider economy, with existing Covid-19 restrictions staying in place.
The IEA said last month that global oil demand is unlikely to get a significant boost from Covid vaccines until well into next year. Latest government data show demand for oil products in the UK was down by 15pc on the year in October.
