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Pascal Soriot yesterday said his team at pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca were proud to be heading the Oxford University project offering hope against Covid-19. The Government has already said the firm could produce up to 30 million doses of the vaccine – enough for half the UK population – by September. And AstraZeneca’s chief executive Mr Soriot hammered home the positive news by saying they have the capacity to produce a billion doses of the vaccine, named AZD1222.

His pledge was backed by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who told the daily Government briefing: “We are doing everything we can to get a vaccine. We will only recommend a vaccine if it’s safe.”

Mr Hancock said whether the vaccine will be mandatory is still being addressed.

He said: “I would hope, given the scale of this crisis and given the overwhelming need for us to get through this and to get the country back on its feet, and the very positive impact that a vaccine would have, that everybody would have the vaccine.”

Mr Soriot said: “This pandemic is a global tragedy and it is a challenge for all of humanity. We need to defeat the virus together or it will continue to inflict huge personal suffering and leave long-lasting economic and social scars in every country around the world.

“We will do everything in our power to make this vaccine quickly and widely available.”

His optimism comes amid warnings that a working vaccine is not guaranteed and in the best case scenario may not be perfected until next year.

Cambridge-based AstraZeneca has admitted its vaccine may not work but insists it is committed to advancing its clinical programme.

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