AstraZeneca vaccine rolled out in the UK as rural heads towards tougher restrictions

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The UK on Monday added the vaccine developed by a drug company

AstraZeneca

and Oxford University to launch their major Covid-19 pandemic vaccine campaign, the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared a “very difficult” time because the second wave of the pandemic does not show that they are shrinking.

Johnson raised hopes on Sunday that the new vaccine would help “tens of millions in the next three months. But in the same television interview he emphasized that even tougher restrictions – with which he said, “a full settlement,” lie for England.

About 1 million people have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 in the last few weeks, but the effects will not be felt until mid-year, which ’cause the economy will be hit by new restrictions that look like a national lock in place from March to May.

With more than 50,000 new infections registered every day and growing signs that the country’s hospitals are operating at near full capacity, health secretary Matt Hancock warned that the government could announce new measures for England in the next 24 hours.

The reopening of secondary schools after the holidays has already been postponed for two weeks, and primary schools will remain closed in the areas most affected by the pandemic, but the government is considering creating a new, stricter “series” of restrictions in London and beyond.

Measures under consideration include universal compulsory use of masks, isolation of older citizens and more vulnerable people, and even a return to a national lock similar to the spring one.

Even though the rapid pace of vaccination justifies Johnson ‘s medium – term expectations, the severity of the new’ variable ‘virus, and the associated limitations, mean that the tax will be the economy is much heavier than expected, with the risk of keeping the economy in recession in the first half of the year.