Good Morning Britain’s Dr Hilary Jones has confirmed he’s set to take a break from the show next week.
The doc has spent the last few months commenting and informing us every day during lockdown, but now he’s taking a well-deserved rest.
Appearing on Thursday’s GMB (July 16) Hilary said he was having a week off, to which stand-in host Adil Ray told him: “You can’t leave next week!”
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Charlotte Hawkins added: “What?! I don’t know who allowed that.”
“I thought I’d have a little break,” Dr Hilary laughed. Charlotte said: “It’s very well deserved.”
What was Good Morning Britain’s Dr Hilary discussing?
I thought I’d have a little break
Dr Hilary was on to talk about today’s main health headline that there’s been a breakthrough with a coronavirus vaccine.
He urged caution when discussing the news: “The Oxford trial is ahead of everybody else. It’s a big race going on around the world trying to find a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19. They seem to be ahead of the game, which is brilliant news for the UK.
“I always worry about using the word ‘breakthrough’ because we’re not there yet. We need to make sure it’s effective and we need to make sure the efficacy lasts for a long time.”
He continued to explain what is meant by the “double defence” that the vaccine doesn’t just stimulate antibodies to kill the virus, it also creates T-cells which protect the actual cell against damage.
“They’ve conducted phase one human trials already on 500 volunteers, they’re extending it to 5000 because we need more numbers to give us the data and to show it’s safe and effective,” Dr Hilary added.
When might we see a vaccine?
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Adil asked the question on everyone’s lips: “When? When will we see this?”
“We can’t say for sure because the trials need to be done,” Dr Hilary replied, before comparing the studies to when penicillin was worked on in the 1940s.
“What they’ve done in four or five months is what normally happens in five years. It’s an extraordinary effort and it would be remarkable if the UK were the first people to develop the vaccine.”
He continued: “Early results are that there are no significant side effects, that it is safe, but we need more work to prove it.”
Adil was clearly excited as he said: “This genuinely feels like something, it just feels like there is some substance to this one.”
Hilary agreed: “Absolutely, if we can get a vaccine quickly it will be a game changer.”
Good Morning Britain continues every weekday at 6am on ITV.
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