Voice of London

The long-awaited moment has finally come as England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam has announced this morning that COVID-19 vaccine doses will arrive in the UK ‘within hours’.

According to the Evening Standard ‘fifty hospitals across the country including seven in London were preparing to start vaccinating staff’, with at least seven hospitals in the capital receiving the vaccination imminently.

Moreover, in the last hour Sky News have reported a ‘cyber espionage campaign targeted at companies vital to the distribution of COVID-19 has been detected’.

According to a research blog published by IBM hackers have tried to disrupt a variety of companies which have links to the vaccine distribution process.

Yesterday, INTERPOL (The International Criminal Police Organization) released a statement warning ‘criminal organizations are planning to infiltrate or disrupt supply chains’ and ‘criminal networks will also be targeting unsuspecting members of the public via fake websites and false cures’.

The news of vaccine scams is just another to add to the list to the vast number of elaborate scams which have been detected over the Coronavirus period.

A report by the technology company Verizon stated 85 percent of online scams now take place on other forms of media other than email as it is harder to detect a fraudulent scheme via text message.

Although the UK has been the first country to give the thumbs up to the vaccine created by Pfizer and BioNTech, PM Boris Johnson warned of the ‘immense logistical challenges’ when trying to distribute it during these coming winter months.

More COVID-19 content from Voice of London

Covid-19: NHS volunteer, 90, first person to receive Pfizer vaccine in London

Covid-19 Vaccine: Allergy sufferers to give their past history reactions and GPs getting ready

Covid-19: Canada, second country to approve Pfizer’BioNTech  

Words by: Ella Webster | Subbing: Grace Staley