On the face of it, it didn't seem much of a Christmas for Paul Reid. Not the Paul Reid who runs the Health Service Executive - although with Covid-19 case numbers soaring above 1,000 for the first time in two months, and a variant strain threatening to run amok, it can't have been much fun for him either.

is namesake holds the far more enviable position of Ireland manager of the company behind the most sought-after product in the world. This Paul Reid worked Christmas Eve, paused to gulp Christmas Day dinner and yesterday was up at the crack of dawn to go to his office in west Dublin. He wouldn't have had it any other way.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience," said Reid, Pfizer Ireland's boss. "I would describe it as probably the biggest breakthrough we've had in 100 years in medicine. It really is that significant."

The first shipment of the eagerly awaited Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine landed on Irish soil yesterday morning. Two modest thermal shippers or boxes shipped in from the Continent. Five trays in each box, 195 vials in each tray and five doses in each vial enough for roughly 9,750 shots of vaccine.

The precious cargo was transported by road, with a discreet Garda presence, to the Health Service Executive's National Cold Chain Centre in Citywest.

There, the two Paul Reids, Health Minster Stephen Donnelly and a number of others were on site for the historic handover of the vaccine before the boxes were placed in one of the nine ultra-low temperature freezers the HSE bought last month.

A second delivery of around 30,000 doses arrives possibly as early as tomorrow or Tuesday. Ireland will have 40,000 doses by the end of next week and at least 30,000 doses a week each week after that, more as production ramps up.

"Effectively, we should have 40,000 doses by the end of December. Then there will be another shipment this week and another in the week of January 4, another January 11 and so on. We're going to get weekly shipments and the volumes are never committed to until much closer to the shipment days. But the expectation is that, you know, we'd be getting another approximately, you know, 32 trays, if you want to work that out in doses," he says on a video call on Christmas Eve.

The HSE declined to allow the media access to yesterday's event, citing security reasons. The vaccine is so coveted that the international police agency, Interpol, issued an orange notice recently warning governments that "criminal organisations" are "planning to infiltrate or disrupt supply chains".

Reid says he's never worked on a product like it. Pfizer has rebuffed numerous advances already. "Yes, I am aware [of approaches]," he laughs. A typical example, he says, are "private sector enterprises" that "would be very interested in getting their hands on a vaccine if it was available for commercial sale privately". They are turned away at the pass. "You don't even get to talk about money. You have to turn it away straight away. You can see the challenges of manufacturing this vaccine. It will only be available through contracted government agencies. That's going to be the way it is for the next six to eight months. Then we'll review how the vaccination roll-outs are going across Europe and the availability of doses beyond that date."

And no, Reid hasn't been vaccinated yet. He and his other Pfizer colleagues wait in line, in accordance with the Government's plan to vaccinate the most vulnerable first.

"You can imagine we get a lot of questions from our own manufacturing sites here, particularly, because they're essential workers, and they, I'm sure, would love to get the vaccine. But, no, we will fall in line with the guidelines coming from the National Covid-19 Vaccination Task Force," he says.

Pfizer can't produce the vaccine quick enough. As the first product to reach the market, Pfizer had anticipated making 100 million doses worldwide before the end of 2020, but revised that down to 50 million. Already rolled out in the UK and the US, European regulators approved the vaccine last Monday and shipments arrived in Germany, Italy and France as well as Ireland yesterday. Germany and Italy intend to start inoculating from today. Ireland will deliver its first jab on December 30 but the roll-out to nursing homes won't start until January 11.

The Pfizer vaccine is notoriously delicate. It must be stored and transported at minus 70C and comes with various shelf lives. It can last in an ultra-cool freezer for six months and in a regular fridge for five days. Once a vial is opened, the vaccine must be used within two hours. In order to ensure no drop of the vaccine is wasted, vaccinators and vaccines must be ready and waiting when it arrives. The vaccine itself must be administered in two doses, 21 days apart.

Pfizer will deliver direct to the HSE's storage depot in Citywest. After that, the HSE takes on the complicated logistics.

The HSE will ship the vaccine as needed around the country in "two to eight degree Celsius trucks and vans".

"They [the HSE] have autonomy to decide how much [vaccine] they remove from the ultra-low temperature refrigerators," he says. The HSE will have a deadline by which the vaccine must be used, "so they have to be very conscious of being able to get the right number of participants in, vaccinate them quickly, and then move on", he says.

If this sounds like a tall order, Reid points out that the HSE "has a lot of experience in Ireland" of moving vaccines.

Given the vaccine's accelerated production, there are many unknowns. Will the vaccine protect against the more transmissible UK strain of the coronavirus which the chief medical officer confirmed has reached Ireland?

"We don't know yet, but we have every reason to believe that the vaccine will be effective for the other variants of the virus," says Reid.

There is not enough data yet to show whether the vaccine can stop transmission. "So until we see the data, until we have the regulators' approval that the vaccine stops the transmission, you have to take all the other public health measures as well," he says.

We don't know either how long immunity will last - only time will tell on that one. Small numbers of people have had allergic reactions to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has led to UK regulators issuing an advisory urging people with a history of allergic reactions not to get it.

Reid points out the vaccine will be given "under close medical supervision", saying: "Anyone who has a history of allergic reactions should not be given the vaccine. That will be in the licence."

The vaccine, like the virus it is targeting, is a work in progress, evolving as it goes.

"The main thing for us is we have a vaccine that works. It's 95pc effective - that's unbelievable. When you look at the efficacy, for nine-and-a-half out of 10 people, it's going to be effective. That's across all participants - irrespective of age, gender, race, ethnicity. You're going to see the same efficacy. And it's safe as well," says Reid.

Reid adds the biggest challenge for the health authority is winning public trust.

"I would say one of the big bits of work we have to do as a country, and certainly for the HSE, is trying to ensure that people are confident to take the vaccine.

"We can't really afford to be hesitant, given the critical situation of the pandemic. Anyone who decides not to vaccinate are not just deciding for themselves - their decisions will also impact on their families and loved ones who live with them. I would certainly say if you have an opportunity to be vaccinated, you should take it.

"Trust the science. Trust the experts. If they're recommending this is effective and safe to use, that's good enough for me."

Originally posted here:

'Covid-19 vaccine is medicine's biggest win in 100 years' - Pfizer boss Paul Reid urges Irish public to have faith in science - Independent.ie