LONDON (AP) – Great Britain took another giant step in the fight against COVID-19 on Monday, stepping up its immunization program by giving the world’s first injections with the vaccine created by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical giant. AstraZeneca.
Dialysis patient Brian Pinker, 82, was the first to receive the new vaccine, administered by the head nurse at Oxford University Hospital. Pinker said he was very pleased and “now I really hope to celebrate my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife Shirley later this year.”
Since December 8, Britain’s National Health Service has used a vaccine made by Pfizer and the German company BioNTech to inoculate healthcare workers and residents and nursing home workers. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine increases this arsenal and is cheaper and easier to use, as it does not require the super-cold storage needed for the Pfizer vaccine.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was being administered in a small number of UK hospitals in the early days so that the authorities could be on the lookout for any adverse reactions. But hundreds of new vaccination sites – both in hospitals and in local doctor’s offices – will be launched this week, joining more than 700 already in operation, NHS England said.
In a shift in practices in the United States and elsewhere, Britain now plans to give people a second dose of both vaccines within 12 weeks of the first injection, instead of 21 days, to speed up immunizations for the largest number of people as quickly as possible.
The government’s deputy medical director, Jonathan Van-Tam, said on Sunday that the decision is “the right thing to do for the nation as a whole”.
The UK is experiencing an acute outbreak, registering more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections per day for the past six days. On Sunday, it registered an additional 54,990 cases and 454 more deaths related to the virus to bring the total number of deaths confirmed by pandemic to 75,024, one of the worst in Europe.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Sunday that the most costly blocking restrictions in England are likely in the coming weeks, as the country reels from a coronavirus variant that has raised infection rates to the highest levels. registered.
Johnson, however, insisted he “has no doubts” that schools are safe and asked parents to send their children back to classrooms on Monday in areas of England where schools plan to reopen. Unions representing teachers have asked schools to adopt distance learning for at least a few weeks more due to the variant, which the authorities said was up to 70% more contagious.
“We are totally reconciled to do whatever it takes to keep the virus under control, which could involve tougher measures in the coming weeks,” Johnson told the BBC.
Johnson admitted that school closings, curfews and a total ban on household mixes may be on the agenda for areas under greater stress.
London and south-east England are experiencing extremely high levels of new infections and there is speculation that restrictions will have to be tightened. Some areas of the region have more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 people.
Johnson’s conservative government is using a layered system of coronavirus restrictions to try to prevent the virus from spreading. Most of England is already at the highest level 4, which involves the closing of stores, gyms and non-essential recreation centers and home classes.
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