NHS makes contingency plans for vaccine roll-out

The National Health Service has drawn up plans to administer a potential novel coronavirus vaccine before Christmas, should one become available, after it was revealed there are currently the equivalent of 22 hospitals' worth of COVID-19 in-patients at hospitals across England.

According to projections from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, by the end of this month, the number of COVID-19 in-patients is likely to exceed the pandemic's first peak in April, but the chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, has offered hope by saying instructions for use of a potential vaccine would soon be sent to general practitioners.

"There are over 200 vaccines in development and we believe that we should hopefully get one or more of those available from the first part of next year," he said. "In anticipation of that we're also gearing the NHS up to be ready to make a start on administering COVID vaccines before Christmas, if they become available."

He urged the public to adhere to the imminent second lockdown to avoid putting further strain on the health service, after it emerged that in the Northwest of England, a quarter of routine operations were being canceled as a knock-on effect of the pandemic.

"If we want to preserve those other services so that the health service can continue to help the full range of patients, we need to do everything we can, together, to keep the infection rate down for coronavirus," he said.

More encouragement has come from the head of vaccine trials at Oxford University. Andrew Pollard told the Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee he is "optimistic" the trial could offer late-stage results, meaning ones that confirm whether or not it would work, before the end of the year, with the possibility of a jab being ready before Christmas.

"There is a small chance of that being possible but I just don't know," he said. "Our trials are only one of many that are going on around the world, a number of which may well report before the end of the year."

The pandemic has left its mark on one of the most famous names on British high streets. Retailer Marks and Spencerhas recorded its first loss in 94 years as a public listed company, with demand for clothes in particular suffering a major slump as people stay at home. Between July and September, sales of clothing in its city center stores fell by 53 percent.

The pandemic could also be adding to the financial woes of England's struggling universities sector, a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, or IFS, has revealed.

Although university enrolment numbers held up well this academic year, despite confusion surrounding end of school exam results and concerns over COVID-19, losses of revenue and a huge pension deficit across the higher education sector have put finances under increased strain.

"By far the biggest source of risk now appears to be the large deficit on the main university pension scheme which has increased from 3.6 billion pounds ($4.69 billion) in March 2018 to a monumental 21.5 billion pounds in August 2020, according to the latest preliminary estimate," said IFS research economist Ben Waltmann, one of the report's authors.

Graduates struggling to find jobs means delayed student loan repayments, and lockdown restrictions have hit other income streams, such as hosting conferences and accommodation fees.

In a previous report issued towards the end of the first period of lock-down in the summer, the IFS warned the sector could lose up to one quarter of its income for the year, with a fall in overseas student numbers, along with the pension deficit, among the main causes.

However, overseas students numbers have actually risen, as figures published by the Universities and College Admissions Service UCAS in September revealed the number of non-European Union overseas students at British universities was up 9 percent to 44,300.

British universities are also proving an increasingly popular alternative to institutions in the United States for students from China. Figures published by the New Oriental Education and Technology Group showed that for the first time since 2015, the UK was the preferred option for Chinese students, ahead of the US.

"It is a great testament to the underlying strength of our higher education sector, as well as a reflection of the improved migration regime and rising geopolitical tensions between China and the US, that so many people still want to come and study at our fantastic institutions," said Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute.