Vaccines are a medicine. Instead of treating diseases, they:

• significantly reduce the chance that someone will catch a disease
• significantly reduce the harm caused by the disease so if people do get it, they do not become seriously unwell

Vaccines, such as the COVID-19  vaccine, are only offered to the public once they have been properly approved after meeting strict safety and effectiveness criteria.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has said social care and health care staff should be a priority for who gets the vaccine.

There are three vaccines in use in the UK, Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

You may have seen some false information about the vaccine.

You can read the real facts here.