UK prepares third booster dose of coronavirus vaccine for September

The UK is working on a plan to start offering a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to boost immunity from September if new variants of the coronavirus have spread by then, said the Secretary of State for Immunization, Nadhim Zahawi.

In an interview published this Saturday in the British newspaper The telegraph, Zahawi detailed that those over 70 and frontline health workers will be given priority for this additional injection.

“The most likely date is September”said Zahawi, responsible for overseeing a vaccination program that has already administered at least a first dose of the vaccine to more than 29 million people.

In the United Kingdom, preparations for AstraZeneca and Pfizer, but the Secretary of State assured that faced with the European autumn, he hopes eight approved inoculants.

The UK government has already been in contact with these two pharmaceutical companies, as well as Moderna, whose vaccine is expected to be available next month, regarding the distribution of a third booster dose.

“Whatever the behavior of the virus, we will be prepared”Zahawi said.

England to begin slow de-escalation of restrictions on Monday that the government decreed in early January to stop a wave of infections which, at its peak, has caused more than 1,800 daily deaths.

Over the past seven days, the average number of deaths from the coronavirus has been 70 and the number of hospitalized patients fell to less than 5,000, far from the nearly 40,000 reached in January.

From Monday, social gatherings abroad of up to six people, belonging to two houses, and outdoor sports facilities will reopen.

Yet they will stay Non-essential shops closed, which will reopen on April 12 (bars and restaurants can serve on the terraces from this date). National or international travel for leisure purposes will not yet be permitted.

The government revealed that will allow stores to open until ten at night when they can resume their activity, three hours more than the closing time before the pandemic.

France accused UK of “blackmail”

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Friday accused UK of “blackmail” over AstraZeneca vaccine delivery, due to a “problem” of shortage of second doses for Brits who have already received the first.

“You can’t play with blackmail like that just because they rushed to vaccinate as many people as possible with the first dose and now they’re at a bit of a disadvantage because they don’t have the second,” he said. declared Jean-Yves Le Drian Radio France. Info.

“The UK has boasted of having vaccinated a bit with the first dose, except they have a problem with the second. You are vaccinated when you receive both doses. Today, there are the same number of people vaccinated with the two doses in France and in the United Kingdom, ”he added.

According to the latest available data, 5.3% of the UK adult population and 5% of the French have received both doses.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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