ROLLING out a new coronavirus vaccine will be a "colossal exercise", warned health secretary Matt Hancock.

Yesterday, Pfizer-BioNTech revealed that the latest trials showed their vaccine was 90 per cent effective.

Mr Hancock said the signs were "very promising".

He added that the NHS was now working with the armed forces to ensure they were ready as soon as a vaccine was cleared for use.

The health secretary told Sky News that no vaccine will be deployed until the UK Government is “confident” of its safety.

He warned that people still had to follow the current restrictions until the vaccine is found to be safe and licensed for use.

Mr Hancock added: “This is very promising news but it is one step of many that we need to take to get out of this and to tackle this pandemic once and for all.

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“I think it is absolutely reasonable for people to see this as a step forward but we have got to know this is one step amongst many that we collectively need to take.

“The critical thing is that for all your viewers is that we all keep our resolve on measures that are currently in place now because it will still take some time for this good news that the Pfizer vaccine is around 90% effective, to proving its safety, being able to license it, and then the vast task, which obviously we have been working on for some time, of making sure that everybody in the population can get the jab.”

The UK Government has secured 40 million doses of the vaccine, which will be enough to roll out to 20 million people.

That process will happen "fairly" across the whole of the UK, Mr Hancock said.

“The UK Government has bought the vaccine for the whole of the UK and it will be rolled out fairly across the whole of the UK with the same prioritisation no matter where you live in this country," he told Sky News.

“The same goes for mass testing, making sure we roll that out across the whole UK.”

The UK Government has invested in six different vaccines.