The COVID-19 vaccine hopefully marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic. As the vaccine can’t be given to everyone immediately, the govt's advisers, the JCVI, have set out the order in which the first 25 million people will be vaccinated.

The vaccination order is based on reducing mortality (as we don’t know for sure if the vaccine reduces transmission). This means mainly targeting those who are older plus frontline health and social care workers and the clinically vulnerable.

Age is rightfully a key criteria: you would need to vaccinate around 32 times more 60–64 year olds than over 90 year olds to save a life, or 6 times as many to save one year of life.

Other factors affect COVID-19 mortality e.g. being from an ethnic minority group, being male, being an essential worker, living in a higher risk area (eg more deprived). Vaccines could be targeted using these factors as well, perhaps saving even more lives.

Decisions on prioritisation require balancing effectiveness, fairness and practicality. Other countries are grappling with these decisions too, sometimes coming to different conclusions. Read more in our new #REALCentre analysis https://www.health.org.uk/publications/long-reads/the-covid-19-vaccine-who-gets-it-first