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Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Mr Sunak said there would still be “tough days and months ahead”, but added: “The early roll-out of vaccines – and the incredible work of our scientists and NHS – means we can now see light at the end of the tunnel with this pandemic.”
Some reports have claimed that rapid deployment of the Oxford vaccine, which regulators are expected to approve within days, could see the UK free of lockdowns by late February.
But on Monday a Government scientific advisor warned that any inoculation program was unlikely to achieve herd immunity in the UK before the summer.
Asked on Sky News if restrictions could be eased early in the new year, Mr Gove said: “The Chancellor is right. If we get authorisation [of the Oxford vaccine] and the roll out goes to plan then we can progressively lift the restrictions that have made life so difficult for so many.
“The right balance is to outline a hopeful path to the future but to stress that it’s contingent on certain things, including the authorisation of the vaccine, proceeding as we hope.”
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The Cabinet Office minister added: “People want to have a clear sense of what the exit strategy is but people are also very understanding that events and circumstances that none of us can necessarily foresee can sometimes delay or frustrate the progress that we all want to make.”
Mr Gove also said that placing the whole of England under tough Tier 4 restrictions in the near term could not be ruled out, as hospital admission figures approach those seen in April at the height of the first wave of the pandemic.
“We review which tiers parts of the country should be in on the basis of scientific evidence,” he said. “The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) will be making recommendations to ministers … the NHS is under pressure and these are difficult months ahead.”
On BBC Breakfast, respiratory diseases expert Professor Calum Semple said it is likely to be summer before herd immunity is reached in Britain through a Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Prof Semple, a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said: “Obviously there is an urgency about this and we know that it is difficult to vaccinate lots of people at the same time – we’ve got a population of just under 70 million people and we’re going to move through them in an orderly fashion vaccinating people most at risk.”
He added: “The people that have been vaccinated will be protected within a matter of weeks and that’s very important.
“On an individual basis these vaccines are so good that they will protect individuals, so we don’t have to wait for this nonsense about herd immunity developing through natural infection, we can start to protect the individuals.
“To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection will take probably 70% to 80% of the population to be vaccinated, and that, I’m afraid, is going to take us right into the summer I expect.”
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