LONDON – The British government announced on Sunday that all adults in the country should receive the first coronavirus vaccine that was fired by July 31, at least a month earlier than their previous target, and preparing for the implementation of a “precautionary” plan to reduce UK lock-in. .
The previous goal was for all adults to have an injection by September. The new target also requires everyone 50 or older and those with an underlying health condition to receive the first of two immunizations before April 15, rather than the previous date of May 1.
Manufacturers of two British vaccines, Pfizer PFE,
and AstraZeneca AZN,
both have experienced supply problems in Europe. But UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that “we now think we have the ingredients” to speed up the vaccination campaign.
The early success of Britain’s vaccination effort welcomes good news for a country that has suffered more than 120,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest number in Europe. More than 17.5 million people, a third of UK adults, have rented one vaccine since inoculations began on 8 December.
Britain is delaying the administration of a second dose of vaccine until 12 weeks after the first, rather than three or four weeks, to give partial protection to more people quickly. The approach has been criticized in some countries – and by Pfizer, which says it has no data to support the interim – but is backed by UK government scientific advisers.
News of the new vaccine targets came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson met on Sunday with senior ministers to pull a “road map” out of the national lock. He plans to announce information in Parliament on Monday.
By engaging in a variety of major viruses that scientists say are both more virulent and deadly than the original virus, Britain has spent much of the winter under tight lock. Bars, restaurants, gyms, schools, hairdressers and all nonessential shops have been closed; grocery stories, pharmacies and food outlets are still open.
The government has insisted that economic and social reopening will be slow and cautious, with impossibility buying or outdoor socialization unlikely before April. Many children will return to school starting March 8 and nursing home residents will have the opportunity to receive one visitor from the same date.
Johnson’s Conservative government has been accused of opening up the country too soon after the first lockout in the spring. The number of confirmed new cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all declining in February but remain high, and Johnson says his reopening roadmap will continue with “data, not dates. ”
But he is under pressure from some Conservative lawmakers, who argue that restrictions should be lifted quickly to revive an economy that was hit by three locks in the past year.
John Edmunds, a member of the government’s scientific advisory body, said British hospitals are still treating nearly 20,000 coronavirus patients, half the peak of January but close to the height of the first increase last spring.
“If we let go now very quickly, we would get another increase in hospitals,” and deaths, he told the BBC.
Edmunds said there is further uncertainty due to new viral changes, including one identified in South Africa that may be more resistant to routine vaccines.
Hancock told Sky News that the government would take a “cautious but irreversible approach” to reopening the economy.
Despite the success of Europe’s fastest vaccination campaign, the UK government has been accused of not protecting disabled people, who are among those most at risk from coronavirus.
The Office for National Statistics has found that 60% of people who died of coronavirus in England in 2020 had a physical or mental disability. However, many people with disabilities, in addition to those with learning disabilities, are “severe or deep ”, which was not placed on a vaccine priority group.
Well-known BBC radio DJ Jo Whiley on Sunday picked up the situation for her sister Frances, 53, who has a learning disability. Whiley said her sister contracted the coronavirus in a rebellion at her care home, her vaccine was not forthcoming.
Whiley said her sister was offered a shot of the vaccine – but it came too late.
“She was called in for her vaccination last night. My mum got a message saying she could get the vaccine, but it’s too late, she’s fighting for her life “in hospital, Whiley told the BBC. “It couldn’t be tough. ”