UK could be almost back to normal by summer if Covid vaccines 70 per cent effective, says Sage member

The UK could be easing out of restrictions in March and back to almost normal by summer if vaccines are 70 per cent to 80 per cent effective at blocking transmission, a UK Government scientific adviser has suggested.

Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of Sage subgroup the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M), said scientists believed vaccines would block transmission of coronavirus,but it was not yet known by how much.

"If we think optimistically, if we follow the trajectory of the rollout of the vaccine ... then hopefully we can be easing out of these controls that we've got in place sometime in March," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"But I think even with that optimistic situation, it needs to be done relatively gradually.