The UK government has signed up for 90 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine - but when will it become available?

Millions of people in the UK could eventually be vaccinated against coronavirus as the government has signed deals for 90 million doses.

The government has said that, alongside the 90 million doses, more are “in the pipeline as part of its strategy to build a portfolio of promising new vaccines to protect the UK from Covid-19.” However, it will be some time before anyone receives a vaccine, outside of testing trials.

The vaccines are being researched by an alliance between the pharmaceutical companies BioNtech and Pfizer, alongside the firm Valneva.

Treatments which contain Covid-19-neutralising antibodies have been secured from firm AstraZeneca, in order to protect those who cannot receive vaccines, such as people with a weakened immune system.

Which vaccines has the UK secured?

The UK government has now secured access to vaccines that use three different approaches.

These are:

30 million doses of the BioNtech/Pfizer vaccine - this injects part of the coronavirus' genetic code60 million doses of the Valneva - this uses an inactive version of the coronavirus100m doses of the Oxford vaccine - which is made from a genetically engineered virus