The UK is facing a “significant” four-week cut in the supply of Covid-19 vaccines starting in late March, forcing doctors to stop taking new patient reservations for next month.
The scarcity will mean a shift in focus to provide second doses for the most vulnerable people who have already received jabs and those in priority groups who have not yet accepted the offer. The news came when Britain announced that more than 25 million people have already had the first chance at Pfizer or AstraZeneca Plc vaccines – about half the adult population.
In a letter on Wednesday to local health service groups, NHS England said the cut in supply is a result of reductions in “national vaccines received”. This explanation risks feeding the already heated debate about whether the European Union, which is lagging behind in its immunization program, should block vaccine exports to the United Kingdom.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock subsequently minimized delays in supply, saying at a news conference that the NHS letter was routine and that vaccine shipments have always been “irregular”. He said the goal of offering a first dose to the entire UK adult population by mid-July remains in effect, with more than 50 years still scheduled to receive their vaccines in the middle of next month.
Even so, vaccination centers and pharmacies were forced to stop receiving new appointments from March 29 and not to upload new appointments to the national appointment service for the entire month of April.
‘Anxious and worried’
“The Government’s Vaccine Task Force has already notified us that there will be a significant reduction in the weekly supply available from manufacturers starting in the week beginning March 29, which means that the volumes for the first doses will be significantly restricted,” said the NHS commercial director, Emily Lawson, in the letter. “They now predict that this will continue for a period of four weeks, as a result of reductions in the national supply of vaccines.”
The UK’s main opposition Labor Party demanded that Hancock explain the assault.
“People across the country will be anxious and concerned,” said Labor health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth. “Matt Hancock needed to explain exactly what these supply problems are and what he is doing to solve them.”
(Adds details, reaction.)