Care home residents and staff will be first to get a Covid-19 vaccine ahead of NHS staff all over-80s, government advice states as US-firm Novavax launches final 10,000 person trial of jab in UK

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Care home residents and staff will be the first to get a Covid-19 vaccine when one is approved, according to fresh government advice.

Everyone over the age of 80 and NHS staff will be second in line, updated guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation states.

The body, which consists of 20 top scientists, advises ministers on all vaccines. It admitted its guidance for any UK Covid-19 vaccination scheme is likely to change in the future.

Matt Hancock previously pledged that Britons with underlying conditions would be near the front of the queue for any jab. But millions living with heart disease or other ailments that raise their risk of dying of Covid-19 won't be vaccinated until everyone over the age of 65 is inoculated, according to the new guidance. 

It comes as another drug giant launched the final-stage trial of its coronavirus jab. Novavax will test its double-dose vaccine - which the UK government has already bought 60million doses of - on 10,000 volunteers in the UK. 

It is the second vaccine in the UK to go into phase 3 trials, behind Oxford University's candidate which moved into efficacy studies over the summer.  

Everyone over the age of 80 and NHS staff will be second in line, updated guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation states

The government hopes a jab will be ready in the first half of next year, but there will still need to be measures in place while people are injected.

The severity of the restrictions - such as social distancing rules - will hinge on how successful the vaccine is. 

The JCVI guidance said frontline health and social care workers are at increased risk of being exposed to Covid-19, as well as transmitting the SARS-CoV-2 virus to vulnerable Britons in hospitals and care homes. 

The committee labelled health workers as the highest priority for vaccination and told health chiefs doing so would also help 'maintain resilience in the NHS and for health and social care providers'.

People with underlying health conditions, who are at increased risk dying from Covid due to their weakened immune systems, should be next in line, the JCVI  says. 

The body said that it continues to evaluate evidence on risk factors, adding that 'early signals have been identified of other potential risk factors, including deprivation and ethnicity'. 

Brits living in the poorest parts of Britain have been twice as likely to die from the disease as those in the wealthiest regions. 

People from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds (BAME) have also been disproportionately hit by the pandemic. 

But experts warned today the first coronavirus vaccine will not be a 'silver bullet' and is unlikely to stop people catching the disease.

Scientists advising the government said it may only reduce people's symptoms and be partially effective, as they stress the need for caution when a jab is eventually found to work and is rolled out.

England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty has set the bar at 40 to 60 per cent efficiency - similar to the flu jab. But the Oxford University team leading the charge for a vaccine set a minimum target of 50 per cent.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty (pictured with Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance this week) has set the bar at 40 to 60 per cent efficiency - similar to the flu jab

They said one that can cut symptomatic coronavirus cases by half would be hugely valuable. But it would mean millions of Britons would, in theory, still be vulnerable to suffering the life-threatening disease. 

Boris Johnson has previously acknowledged that a mass-testing programme is the UK's 'only hope' of avoiding another national lockdown, in the absence of a vaccine. It is why Number 10 has pledged to eventually carry out 10million tests a day.

A government source told the Times: 'It seems the most likely outcome in the short to medium term is to find a vaccine, or two doses of a vaccine, that reduces the severity of symptoms. It's possible we might need several vaccines, but we are backing a lot of horses.'

Head of vaccines at the Wellcome Trust Charlie Weller said the first vaccine will probably need to be phased in alongside other restrictions.

He added: 'We need to manage everyone's expectations on what these first front-runners of vaccines can actually do.

'There's a lot of hope, understandably, resting on a vaccine that is going to be this wonderful one dose [that will give] full lifetime immunity and move us back to normality the next day, but it's not going to be the perfect solution; it's not going to be the silver bullet.'

It comes as a new phase-three trial for a vaccine created by US biotech company Novavax was started on Thursday, marking the second phase-three trial to take place in the UK.

As part of the research, 10,000 people will be invited to take part in the late stage study.

Phase-three trials require a large number of people to test the safety and effectiveness of the potential vaccine across a community.

They will be held across the country including in Greater Manchester, London, Glasgow and Belfast.

Sixty million doses of the vaccine have been secured by the Government, to be manufactured in Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham, if it is successful.

The volunteers had previously signed up to the NHS Covid-19 vaccine research registry, created in July to allow people to express their interest in taking part in a clinical trial and to be contacted by researchers.

More than 250,000 people have since signed up.

Researchers and the Government are calling for more people to volunteer for the studies, particularly people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with underlying health conditions and people over 65.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: 'I am incredibly proud of the 250,000 volunteers who have signed up to play their part in the global fight against coronavirus.

'Our scientists and researchers are working day and night to find a vaccine that meets the UK's rigorous safety standards, but we need even more people from all backgrounds and ages to sign up for studies to speed up this life-saving research.

'The more people that sign up, the quicker we can find a safe and effective vaccine, defeat this virus and protect millions of lives.' 

Oxford University's vaccine candidate - one of the frontrunners to be the first approved in the West - has been being trialled on tens of thousands of people in the UK, Brazil, US, India and South Africa for months.

Results are expected early next year and the team hope to have the jab rolled out to the most at-risk patients by Spring.