What the papers say – December 28

The national front pages are lit up with the promise of a new jab to protect Britons against coronavirus.

The Sun quotes Chancellor Rishi Sunak as saying Britain is facing a “brighter future” with regulators on the brink of approving the Oxford-developed vaccine.

There is a “volunteer army” of more than 10,000 ready to distribute the jab when it is approved, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Hundreds of “pop-up GP-led centres” are on the way of part of the “huge vaccination drive”, ministers are cited as saying in the Daily Mail.

The Daily Express says the development means “We’ll be free by February”, while the Daily Mirror calls it “a shot at freedom”.

Senior doctors are quoted in The Times as saying hospital coronavirus cases are surging towards a new high and could soon overwhelm the NHS.

The Independent says an NHS England report shows hospitals were left short by almost 4,000 nurses during the first wave of the pandemic.

The country’s top psychiatrist has told The Guardian Covid-19 poses the greatest threat to mental health since the Second World War.

And the Daily Star refers to the wet weather which has caused flooding throughout large parts of England as a “winter washout”.