LONDON (AP) – The British government said on Sunday that every adult in the country should receive a first coronavirus vaccine by July 31, at least a month before its previous target, while preparing to draw up a “cautious” plan for facilitate the UK blockade.
The previous goal was for all adults to receive an injection by September. The new target also provides for everyone aged 50 and over and those with an underlying health problem to have the first of the two vaccines by April 15, instead of the previous date, May 1.
Manufacturers of the two vaccines Britain is using, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, have faced supply problems in Europe. But UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that “we now think we have the supplies” to speed up the vaccination campaign.
The initial success of Britain’s vaccination effort is good news for a country that has had more than 120,000 deaths from coronavirus, the highest number of deaths in Europe. More than 17.5 million people, a third of UK adults, have had at least one vaccine injection since inoculations began on December 8.
Britain is delaying the application of the second dose of the vaccine until 12 weeks after the first, instead of three to four weeks, in order to give partial protection to more people quickly. The approach has been criticized in some countries – and by Pfizer, which claims to have no data to support the gap – but is supported by scientific consultants from the UK government.
The news of the new vaccine targets came when Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with ministers on Sunday to finalize a “roadmap” outside the national blockade. He plans to announce details in Parliament on Monday.
In the face of a dominant variant of the virus that, according to scientists, is more transmissible and deadly than the original virus, Britain spent much of the winter under a rigid blockade. Bars, restaurants, gyms, schools, hairdressers and all non-essential stores were closed; stories of grocery stores, pharmacies and takeaway locations are still open.
The government emphasized that economic and social reopening will be slow and cautious, with non-essential purchases or unlikely outdoor socializing before April. Many children will return to school from 8 March and residents of nursing homes will be able to receive a visitor from the same date.
Johnson’s conservative government was accused of reopening the country very quickly after the first blockade in the spring. The number of new confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths are decreasing in February, but remain high, and Johnson says his reopening roadmap will follow “data, not dates”.
But he is under pressure from some conservative lawmakers, who argue that restrictions must be lifted quickly to revive an economy that was hammered by three blockades last year.
John Edmunds, a member of the government’s scientific advisory group, said British hospitals still treat nearly 20,000 coronavirus patients, half of January’s peak, but almost as much as the peak of the first outbreak last spring.
“If we slowed down very quickly now, we would have another increase in hospitalizations” and deaths, he told the BBC.
Edmunds said there is additional uncertainty because of new virus variants, including one identified in South Africa that may be more resistant to current vaccines.
Hancock told Sky News that the government would take a “cautious but irreversible approach” to reopen the economy.
Despite the success of Europe’s fastest vaccination campaign, the UK government has been accused of failing to protect people with disabilities, who are among those most at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
The Office for National Statistics found that 60% of people who died of coronavirus in England in 2020 had a physical or mental disability. But many people with disabilities, except those with “severe or profound” learning disabilities, were not placed in a priority vaccination group.
Jo Whiley, a well-known BBC radio DJ, on Sunday highlighted the plight of her 53-year-old sister Frances, who has a learning disability. Whiley said his sister contracted the coronavirus in an outbreak at her nursing home, whose residents had not been vaccinated.
Whiley said his sister finally received a vaccine offer – but it was too late.
“She was called for the vaccine last night. My mother received a message saying that she could be vaccinated, but it is too late, she is fighting for her life ”at the hospital, Whiley told the BBC. “It couldn’t be more cruel.”
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