A 82-year-old dialysis patient on Monday became the first person in the world to receive the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca AZN,
and the University of Oxford, as it has been approved for use in the UK, which is battling a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases.
Brian Pinker, a retired maintenance manager, received the injection at 7:30 GMT from nurse Sam Foster at Churchill Hospital in Oxford. “I am delighted to receive the COVID vaccine today and very proud that it was invented in Oxford,” said Pinker in a statement released by the National Health Service.
More than half a million doses of the vaccine from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca AZN,
and the Oxford University photo will be available from Monday, with tens of millions more to be delivered in the coming weeks and months, once the lots have the quality checked by the regulator, the government said.
The UK government granted access to 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which was authorized for emergency use by the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, on December 30.
The vaccines will be applied at 730 vaccination sites already established across the UK, with others opening this week to bring the total to more than 1,000, the government said in a statement.
“This is a pivotal 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 Secretary Matt Hancock.
Hancock’s comments come almost a month after the UK started launching the vaccine developed by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer PFE,
and its German partner BioNTech BNTX,
with over 1 million people having now received their first dose of the two-dose injection.
Last week, the MHRA, the Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee and four UK medical directors agreed to postpone the interval between the first and second doses of vaccines, in an attempt to protect as many people as possible in the shortest possible time. .
The AstraZeneca – Oxford vaccine is easier to transport and store than the Pfizer – BioNTech injection, which must be kept at minus 70 degrees until just before use, facilitating delivery in nursing homes.
The launch of the AstraZeneca – Oxford vaccine comes amid a resurgence outbreak of coronavirus cases in the UK, with more than 50,000 new cases of coronavirus recorded for the sixth consecutive day. On Sunday, 54,990 new infections and 454 deaths were reported, according to government data.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC national broadcaster that tougher measures may be needed in parts of the country in the coming weeks to control the rapid spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. “If you look at the numbers, there is no doubt that we will have to take tougher measures and we will announce them in due course,” said Johnson. He will set plans for England in a televised speech at 8pm GMT on Monday.
Read: The slow launch of the COVID-19 vaccine in the US may portend further problems
Earlier on Monday, Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced new blocking rules, with a legal requirement for everyone in mainland Scotland to stay home, except for essential purposes, from midnight tonight until the end of January.
“As a result of this new variant, [the virus] he just learned to run a lot faster and definitely picked up the pace in the last few weeks, ”Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament.
Meanwhile, some European Union leaders have been criticized for the slow pace of their vaccination programs, which started on December 27 with the injection of Pfizer-BioNTech.
BioNTech Chief Executive Uğur Şahin told the German newspaper Der Spiegel that the process in Europe “certainly was not as quick and direct” as in other countries, partly because the EU is not directly authorized and member states have a word to say.
Read: Why France’s disastrous COVID vaccination campaign is seen as a Macron fiasco and failure of the ‘ruling elite’
The French government has pledged to speed up the pace of vaccinations after inoculating just over 350 people with the Pfizer – BioNtech vaccine in the first six days, compared with 238,000 in Germany. As of Monday, medical staff aged 50 and over in France will receive the vaccines. Vaccines in the Netherlands will not be administered until January 8, when the IT system needed for vaccine planning and registration will be ready.
Several European countries are expected to extend their blockages amid an increase in coronavirus cases. On Saturday, France switched to an evening curfew in 15 departments from 8 pm to 6 pm. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet Germany’s heads of state on Tuesday to decide whether to extend the current blockade beyond January 10.