UK rolls out AstraZeneca footage, but Prime Minister Johnson warns of ‘tough, tough weeks’ ahead

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain began to vaccinate its population with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot down Monday in a world first, racing to provide protection for the elderly and the vulnerable as a new wave of cases threatened to hit hospitals. overwhelm.

Against a dark backdrop of record daily cases, Britain hailed a scientific “triumph” when dialysis patient Brian Pinker, 82, became the first person to receive the Oxford / AstraZeneca shot outside of a trial.

“I am so happy to receive the COVID vaccine today and I am really proud that it is a vaccine invented in Oxford,” said Pinker, a retired maintenance manager, just a few hundred meters from the site of the vaccine. vaccine has been developed.

Great Britain, struggling with the world’s sixth worst death toll and one of the worst economic blows from the COVID crisis, was the first country to release the vaccine, developed by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, just under a month ago. market.

It prioritizes getting the first dose of a vaccine to as many people as possible over giving a second dose, despite some doctors and scientists raising concerns.

Two new variants of the coronavirus complicate the COVID-19 response, and Britain has seen a resurgence in cases of new daily highs.

Scientists are not entirely sure that COVID-19 vaccines will work on a variant found in South Africa, ITV political editor Robert Peston said, while cases were also fueled by a highly transmissible British variant.

AstraZeneca’s rollout came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of “tough, tough weeks to come” and said new restrictions would be coming to England.

“If you look at the numbers, there is no question that we will have to take tougher measures and will announce them in due course,” Johnson said during a visit to health workers who received the Oxford vaccine.

More than 75,000 people in the UK have died from COVID-19 within 28 days of a positive test, and millions in England are already living under the strictest restrictions.

Ahead of Johnson, Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon imposed the toughest lockdown since last spring.

“It is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation we face now than I have ever been since March,” she said.

TRIUMPH FOR SCIENCE

Since the introduction of the Pfizer vaccine on December 8, Britain has administered more than a million COVID-19 vaccines – more than the rest of Europe put together, said Health Minister Matt Hancock, adding that it was a triumph of British science.

Johnson’s government has secured 100 million doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, which can be stored at refrigerator temperatures between two and eight degrees, making it easier to distribute than the Pfizer vaccine.

Six hospitals in England are administering the first of approximately 530,000 doses that Britain has ready. The program will be expanded to hundreds of other UK sites in the coming days and the government hopes it will deliver tens of millions of doses within months.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had administered 4.2 million first doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Saturday morning and dispensed 13.07 million doses.

More than a tenth of the Israeli population has had a vaccine, and it now administers more than 150,000 doses per day.

Germany and Denmark are investigating the possibility of delaying the administration of a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to further grow scarce supplies, following a similar move by Britain last week.

Britain became the first Western country to approve and introduce a COVID-19 vaccine, although it is months behind Russia and China who vaccinated their citizens for months. Others have taken a longer and more careful approach. Several vaccines are still being tested at a late stage.

India approved the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use on Sunday.

Andrew Pollard, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, was among those who received the vaccine Monday.

“We are about to be overwhelmed by this disease,” he told BBC TV. “I think it (the vaccine) gives us a little bit of hope, but I think we have some tough weeks ahead of us.”