UK on track for COVID-19 vaccination target as 200,000 shots per day are achieved – Hancock

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is on track to vaccinate its most vulnerable people against COVID-19 by mid-February and provide an injection to every adult in the fall, with about 2 million people already receiving a first dose, said the health secretary. on Sunday.

“We vaccinated more people last week than December, so we’re accelerating the rollout,” Matt Hancock told BBC TV.

Britain is battling progressive infections but hopes for a rapid immunization so that life can return to somewhat normal by spring.

Hancock said approximately 2 million people had already received a first injection of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We’ve now vaccinated about a third of all over-80s, so (we’re making) very, very good progress,” he said.

The government wants to achieve its goal of vaccinating more than 14 million people by mid-February, including the over-70s, the clinically vulnerable – the elderly or with pre-existing conditions – and health and social workers, 2 million shots a week.

The current rate is about 200,000 a day, Hancock said.

Seven massive vaccination centers will open this week, supplementing nearly 1,000 doctor’s offices and hospitals. Hancock said every adult would get a vaccine by fall.

Queen Elizabeth and her husband Philip, both in their 90s, have been given vaccinations, Buckingham Palace said Saturday.

VIOLENT CASES

A highly transmissible new variant of the virus is spreading around Britain, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed a third national lockdown in England to try to stop the pandemic before the most vulnerable are immunized. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have imposed similar measures.

More than 80,000 people in Britain have died within 28 days of receiving a positive COVID-19 test, the fifth highest official death toll worldwide, and more than 3 million people tested positive.

Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, said on Sunday that the national health service in parts of the country was dealing with “the most difficult situation anyone can remember.”

Hancock did not rule out a tougher lockdown, saying he “would not speculate” on further restrictions, although he added that the “vast majority” of people were following the current rules.