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LONDON (AP) – Britain is expanding its coronavirus vaccination program which has seen more than 6 million people receive the first of two doses – even as the country’s death toll from the pandemic approaches 100,000.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that three-quarters of the UK’s over 80s had received a vaccine. He said three-quarters of nursing home residents also had their first stroke.
Health officials said 6.35 million doses of the vaccine had been given since injections began last month, including nearly 500,000 doses on Saturday, the highest total on a day to date. Health officials aim to give 15 million people, including all those over the age of 70, a first vaccine vaccinated by February 15 and to cover the entire adult population by September.
Britain is injecting people with two vaccines – one made by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German company BioNTech, the other by UK and Swedish manufacturer AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. He also authorized a third, developed by Moderna.
He shoots doctors’ offices, hospitals, pharmacies and vaccination centers set up in conference halls, sports stadiums and other major venues like Salisbury Cathedral.. Thirty more locations will open this week, including a former IKEA store and an industrial history museum that served as the backdrop for the “Peaky Blinders” TV show.
Britain’s vaccination campaign is a rare success in a country with Europe’s worst confirmed coronavirus outbreak. The UK has recorded 97,939 deaths among those who tested positive, including 610 new deaths reported on Sunday.
The UK is set to become the fifth country in the world in a matter of days to record 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico – all of which have significantly larger populations than the United States. 67 million Britons.
Some health experts have questioned the Conservative government’s decision to administer the two doses of vaccine 12 weeks apart, rather than the recommended three weeks, in order to provide as many people as possible their first dose quickly.
AstraZeneca said it believes a first dose of its vaccine provides protection after 12 weeks, but Pfizer says it has not tested its vaccine for effectiveness after such a long hiatus.
The British Medical Association says the government should “urgently review” the policy.
But Anthony Harnden, deputy head of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, which advises the government, defended the policy, saying the UK was in a “dire situation”.
“Every dose of vaccine that we give as a second dose, we’re going to deny someone their first dose for now 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 push is in part fueled by a new variant of the virus first identified in south-east England, which scientists believe is more transmissible than the original strain. They also say it may be more deadly, although the evidence is weaker.
The UK government has said it may tighten quarantine requirements for people arriving from overseas in an effort to prevent other new variants found in South Africa and Brazil. Travelers to Britain already have to self-isolate for 10 days, but enforcement is patchy. Authorities are considering requiring arrivals to stay in quarantine hotels like those set up in Australia and other countries.
The UK is several weeks away in a lockdown to try to slow the spread of the virus. Pubs, restaurants, gymnasiums, entertainment venues and many shops are closed and people are required to largely stay at home.
Lockdown rules will be reviewed on February 15, but the government says it’s too early to consider easing restrictions.
“There is preliminary evidence that the lockdown is starting to reduce cases, but we are nowhere near low enough,” Hancock said.
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Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic,https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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