Photographer: Owen Humphreys / PA Wire / Bloomberg
Photographer: Owen Humphreys / PA Wire / Bloomberg
Lockdowns in the UK could be relaxed in late February as the upcoming approval of a Covid-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca Plc will vaccinate as many as 15 million of the country’s most vulnerable people, the Mail reported on Sunday.
The country’s health department would no longer be at risk of being overwhelmed with virus cases once that threshold is reached, the paper said. The vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca will be approved shortly and will roll out in the UK from January 4, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
The UK became the first country in Western Europe to start vaccinations when the started using the Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE Injection on December 8. More than 600,000 people have been vaccinated through December 20. The government hopes that 2 million people will receive a first dose of one of the vaccines within two weeks of the January rollout of the new shot, the Telegraph said.
The country is one of the hardest hit countries in Europe with more than 70,000 dead, the second most in the region after Italy. Much of the UK has moved to the most stringent Tier 4 restrictions, prohibiting household mixing and forcing the closure of pubs, restaurants and many businesses following the discovery of a more contagious strain of the virus earlier this month.
Read More: Why Mutated Coronavirus In The UK Is Raising Concerns: QuickTake
The Sun newspaper reported that regulators injected the vaccine AstraZeneca – Oxford as early as Dec. 28. will approve. The medicines and healthcare Products Regulatory Agency needs time to review vaccination data, a health department spokesperson said by email, without specifying when a decision would be made.
Read More: EU Begins Coordinated Rollout of Vaccines After Pfizer Shot Wiped
The AstraZeneca vaccine is easier to store and handle than Pfizer’s, helping reach people in remote parts of the country. Approval was delayed by discrepancies in the efficacy rates produced in studies. AstraZeneca Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said Sunday Times said new data will show that the vaccine reached the Pfizer reported efficacy of 95%.
“We think we’ve come up with the winning formula and how to get efficacy that will be present in everyone after two doses,” he told the paper. “I can’t tell you more because we will publish at some point.”
The Telegraph also reported that mass vaccination centers in sports stadiums and conference venues are expected to begin in the second week of January. The newspaper said government officials will hold a meeting on the pandemic Monday after scientists warned that school closures may be necessary to slow the spread of the new Covid-19 variant.
The rate at which the virus is increasing, known as the R number, is estimated at 1.1 to 1.3 on Dec. 24, according to the latest government data. A reading greater than 1.0 indicates that the spread of the virus is accelerating. The UK reported 34,693 cases and 210 deaths on December 26.
(Updates with comments from AstraZeneca CEO from the sixth paragraph)