Doses of the vaccine, approved by UK regulators on December 30, will initially be delivered to “a small number of hospitals for surveillance purposes during the first few days,” before most of the doses arrive at medical practices later in the week , said the English National Health Service (NHS).
The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is easier to transport and store than the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine – which was approved for use in the UK last month and must be stored at -70 degrees Celsius – making it easier to get out of the hospital settings to be provided.
Tens of thousands of current and former NHS workers are being trained as vaccinators to support what the health service has described as “the largest immunization program in its history.”
Brian William Pinker, 82, was the first person to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine Monday morning.
“I am so glad I got the [Covid-19] vaccine today, Pinker said after receiving his dose, according to the NHS England Twitter account. He added that he was considered a vulnerable person because of dialysis.
“The vaccine means everything to me, in my opinion it is the only way to return to normal life,” he said.
“The very positive news this morning that the Oxford vaccine was starting to be rolled out – that’s a triumph of British science that we’ve managed to get to where we are today,” British Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News Monday.
The rollout is coming as the number of coronavirus cases in the UK continues to increase. The country has registered more than 50,000 new Covid-19 cases six days in a row, with 54,990 new cases reported Sunday.
“It’s a very difficult situation in terms of the growth of the virus,” said Hancock. “But then we also have this very good news this morning, it is a really pivotal moment with the arrival, actually in UK hospitals, of the Oxford vaccine.”
The rollout comes after a shift in the UK’s immunization strategy. The government has said it will now prioritize giving the first of a series of two vaccine doses to as many people as possible, before giving a second dose until 12 weeks later.
This applies to both the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine that is already being administered.
The British Medical Association (BMA), a body representing British physicians, has criticized the delay of appointments for the highly vulnerable patients currently waiting for their second injection.
But the UK’s Chief Medical Officers defended the change of strategy, saying it was a move based on the “balance of risks and benefits” and that the “great majority” of the initial protection came from the first shot.
The Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccine also has the potential to quickly protect millions of people around the world as regulatory authorities from other countries grant approval.
AstraZeneca has pledged to deliver hundreds of millions of doses to low- and middle-income countries, and to deliver the vaccine to those countries forever on a non-profit basis.
The vaccine is significantly cheaper than others that have been approved and, crucially, it would be much easier to transport and distribute in developing countries than its rivals as it does not need to be stored at freezing temperatures.