LONDON (AP) – Britain is expanding a coronavirus vaccination program with more than 6 million people receiving the first of two doses – even as the country’s pandemic death toll approaches 100,000.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that three-quarters of people over 80 in the UK have received a vaccination. He said three quarters of nursing home residents have also had their first shot.
Health authorities said 6.35 million doses of vaccine have been administered since the injections began last month, including nearly 500,000 doses on Saturday, the highest total in one day to date. Health officials aim to give 15 million people, including anyone over 70, an initial vaccination by February 15 and cover the entire adult population by September.
In Britain, people are vaccinated with two vaccines: one made by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German company BioNTech, the other by the British-Swedish drug company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. It has also authorized a third party developed by Moderna.
It displays the photos in doctors’ offices, hospitals, pharmacies and vaccination centers that have been set up in conference halls, sports stadiums and other major locations such as Salisbury Cathedral.. Thirty more locations will open this week, including a former IKEA store and an industrial history museum that was used as the setting for the TV show ‘Peaky Blinders’.
Britain’s vaccination campaign is a rare success in a country with the worst confirmed coronavirus outbreak in Europe. The UK recorded 97,939 deaths among people who tested positive, including 610 new deaths reported Sunday.
Within days, the UK will become the fifth country in the world with 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico – all of which have a much larger population than Britain’s 67 million residents.
Some health experts have questioned the Conservative government’s decision to give the two vaccine doses 12 weeks apart, instead of the recommended three weeks, in order to get as many people as possible their first dose quickly.
AstraZeneca has said it believes a first dose of its vaccine will provide protection after 12 weeks, but Pfizer says it has not tested the effectiveness of its shot after such a long period.
The British Medical Association says the government “needs urgent review”.
But Anthony Harnden, deputy head of the government’s advisory Joint Committee on Vaccination and Vaccination, defended the policy, saying the UK is in a “dire situation”.
“Any dose of vaccine that we give as a second dose, at this point will someone refuse their first dose and deny them very good protection,” Harnden told Sky News. He said the policy of prioritizing first doses would “save thousands and thousands of lives.”
Britain’s latest wave is fueled in part by a new virus variant first identified in South East England, which scientists believe is more transmissible than the original strain. They also say it could be more deadly, although that evidence is weaker.
The UK government has said it could tighten quarantine requirements for people coming from abroad in an effort to keep out other new variants discovered in South Africa and Brazil. Travelers to Britain have had to isolate themselves for ten days, but enforcement is patchy. Authorities are considering requiring them to stay in quarantine hotels, such as those in Australia and some other countries.
The UK has been in a lockdown for several weeks to try to slow the spread of the virus. Pubs, restaurants, gyms, nightlife and many shops are closed and people have to stay at home for the most part.
The lockdown rules will be reviewed on Feb. 15, but the government says it is too early to think about relaxing the restrictions.
“There are early indications that the lockdown is starting to close things, but we are nowhere near low enough,” said Hancock.
___
Follow all AP pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic,https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak