Seven centers will open on Monday as the British government accelerates efforts to combat the virus that is growing wildly.
The British government will open seven mass vaccination centers on Monday as part of efforts to accelerate the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccines that the government wants to distribute to all vulnerable people by the middle of next month.
The country, which was the first to approve vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca, is currently immunizing about 200,000 people a day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday.
About 1.3 million people received their first dose of the two-dose vaccination on January 3, according to government data, but the UK needs to inoculate two million people a week to meet its vaccination target in nursing homes. elderly 70, clinically vulnerable with pre-existing conditions and health and social care professionals until February 15.
Britain is pinning its hopes on a rapid immunization to allow life to begin to return to some degree of normalcy in the spring of the northern hemisphere, even as it faces a rapidly escalating pandemic.
In addition to the seven major centers, Britain is also turning to 1,000 clinics, 223 hospitals and 200 community pharmacies to deliver vaccines, said Vaccine Implantation Minister Nadhim Zahawi in a statement. The Armed Forces will also be deployed in support of the National Health Service.
Ellen Prosser, 100, known as Nell, receives the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a nursing home in London. The UK wants all residents of nursing homes, over 70, vulnerable people and healthcare professionals to receive the vaccine by mid-February [Kirsty O’Connor/Pool Photo via AP Photo]
“Working together, day and night, they will ensure that our vaccines go to arms, instead of stopping on the shelves,” said Zahawi. “UK forces will use techniques born of decades of experience in doing things in some of the most difficult conditions imaginable. They will bring the bravery and brilliance they have shown in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to these shores. “
Health Secretary Matt Hancock will present his immunization plan COVID-19 – the largest vaccination program in British history – on Monday.
“The UK vaccine delivery plan will be the cornerstone of our exit from the pandemic, but we must all continue to do our part, staying at home, following the rules and keeping hands, face and space at the forefront of our minds when we go out and about, “he said in a statement.
About 81,567 people died in the UK due to COVID-19, the fifth highest official death toll in the world. More than three million people tested positive for coronavirus.
The centers include the 4,000-bed ‘Nightingale’ field hospital installed at the ExCel exhibition center in east London, the Epsom race track west of the capital and a giant leisure center in Manchester.
Ambulances outside the NHS Nightingale hospital at the ExCel center in East London, which will also become a mass vaccination center [Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP]