‘Crucial moment’ when Britain is preparing to launch the AstraZeneca vaccine

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will become the first country to launch the low-cost, easy-to-transport COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford on Monday, another step forward in the global response to the pandemic.

Six hospitals in England will administer the first of about 530,000 doses that Britain has prepared. The program will be expanded to hundreds of other British locations in the coming days, and the government expects it to deliver tens of millions of doses in a few months.

“This is a crucial moment in our fight against this terrible virus and I hope it will give renewed hope to everyone that the end of this pandemic is near,” said Health Minister Matt Hancock in a statement.

Last month, Britain was the first country to use a different vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, which should be stored at very low temperatures. So far, Britain has injected about a million people.

The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper and can be stored at refrigerator temperature, which facilitates transport and use. India approved the vaccine on Sunday for emergency use.

Cases of COVID-19 in Britain have increased dramatically in recent weeks, fueled by a new and more communicable variant of the virus. On Sunday, there were almost 55,000 new cases and, in total, more than 75,000 people in the country died of COVID-19 during the pandemic – the second highest death rate in Europe.

Although the government made a point of hailing its vaccination program as the most advanced in the world, it had to balance the optimism of this message and beg the public to follow the rules to prevent new infections.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that tougher restrictions are likely to be introduced, even with millions of citizens already living under the strictest rules.

The spread of the variant virus also forced the government to change its approach to vaccination. Britain is now prioritizing giving a first dose of a vaccine to as many people as possible instead of giving second doses. Delaying the distribution of the second shots should help to stretch the stock.

The change in strategy drew criticism from some British doctors.