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A record 343,000 people in the UK received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday as the NHS stepped up efforts to vaccinate 15 million people by mid-February.
Downing Street said he was increasingly confident he would hit the target as long as the supply was maintained, although with 25 days it will take around 400,000 vaccinations a day to stay on track.
A total of 4.6 million people have now received a first dose of Pfizer / BioNTech or Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK out of 15 million in the four highest priority groups, which include residents of nursing homes, the NHS and workers in nursing homes, anywhere under 70 and those with serious health problems.
However, No.10 acknowledged on Wednesday that the number of daily doses “will fluctuate”, highlighting efforts to bring more vaccination sites online. On Monday, the NHS provided 204,000 first doses, well below the target rate.
Ministers insist Pfizer and AstraZeneca have enough supplies to hit the target, but they decline to say how many doses the system contains, prompting complaints from the British Medical Association (BMA).
Richard Vautrey, chairman of the BMA’s GP committee, said that “despite the availability of staff and resources, some sites run by GPs are not able to immunize patients at the rate at which they could.” they continued to access the vaccine ”. He called on ministers to be honest about the amount of vaccines being prepared.
Parts of the country, such as Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, have just received their first supply of vaccine “in recent days”, according to local MP Rob Butler, who raised the matter during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
The government says it does not want to disclose detailed information on vaccine supplies, in part because it would allow other countries to see how much the UK has – an explanation that surprised the sources of the pharmaceutical industry in private.
Pfizer has said it is temporarily reducing production in Europe as it prepares to expand its manufacturing site in Belgium. But AstraZeneca said it has already supplied 1.1 million doses and will deliver 1 million or more this week, and 2 million per week by the middle of next month.
Downing Street on Wednesday ruled out previous calls by Home Secretary Priti Patel for police to be included as one of the nine highest priority groups in the first phase of the vaccination program.
The prime minister’s spokesman said the government would stick to the list of priorities previously defined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI): “We will continue to work during the first phase. Medical experts have clearly established that people in phase 1 are at greatest clinical risk. “
When asked if police would be promoted to the immunization priority list, Patel told LBC that she said other ministers were “working to get this done” and “I told police partners to prepare ”, although she said final decisions rested with the independent JCVI.
Downing Street said police, teachers, firefighters and other key workers who come into contact with the public would likely be seen as a priority in the second phase of the mass vaccination, after all over 50 years have been vaccinated.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said: “We are confident that we can achieve this target by mid-February. The fact that we have been able to increase the number of doses we can give each day is obviously going to fluctuate. But we’ve been able to bring more vaccination sites online, as we move forward this month and next, and that will get us to the target. “
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