LONDON (AP) – The United Kingdom on Monday became the first nation in the world to start using the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, expanding a national inoculation program as rates of Rising infections are putting unprecedented pressure on British hospitals.
Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, received his first injection at 7:30 am at Oxford University Hospital.
“Today’s nurses, doctors and staff were brilliant, and now I can really hope to celebrate my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife, Shirley, later this year,” said Pinker in a statement released by the National Health Service.
The launch of the new vaccine comes at a crucial time for UK authorities, who are battling an increase in infections attributed to a new variant of the virus that officials said was far more contagious. Scotland imposed a blockade until the end of January amid increasing pressure on authorities to tighten restrictions across the UK
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said tougher measures are imminent, announced a national speech at 8 pm. The UK Parliament will be convened for a session on Wednesday.
“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 while visiting some of the people who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at Chase Farm Hospital in northern London.
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 recorded another 54,990 cases and 454 more virus-related deaths to bring the total number of confirmed pandemic deaths to over 75,000, one of the worst in Europe. Some areas to the northeast of London have infection rates of over 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said that as of Tuesday, people in Scotland will be legally required to stay at home, except for essential reasons to help ease the pressure on hospitals and intensive care units.
According to the new blocking rules in Scotland, people can go out to exercise, but they can only meet another person from another family. The schools are closed until February, except for the children of key workers and children under social assistance.
“I am more concerned with the situation we face now than at any time since March last year,” she said
Scotland, which has its own delegated government, often imposed stricter coronavirus restrictions than those in England during the pandemic.
UK regulators last week authorized the emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca injection, giving public health officials a second vaccine in their medical arsenal. Britain’s mass vaccination program started on December 8 with the injection developed by Pfizer of New York and its German partner BioNTech.
Britain has secured the rights to 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to use than some of its rivals. In particular, it does not require the super cold storage required for the Pfizer vaccine.
The new vaccine will be administered in a small number of hospitals during the first few days so that authorities can be on the lookout for any adverse reactions. But the NHS said that hundreds of new vaccination sites – including local doctor’s offices – will open later this week, joining more than 700 vaccination sites already in operation.
A “massive augmentation operation” is underway in the vaccination program, said Johnson. But aspects of Britain’s vaccination plans have sparked controversy.
Both vaccines require two injections, and Pfizer recommended that the second dose be administered within 21 days after the first. But the UK’s Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee said the authorities should give the first dose of the vaccine to as many people as possible, instead of reserving the injections to ensure that others receive two doses. He extended the time between doses from 21 days to 12 weeks.
Although two doses are needed to fully protect against COVID-19, both provide high levels of protection after the first dose, the committee said. Making the first dose a priority “will maximize the benefits of the vaccination program in the short term,” the report said.
Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said lawmakers are being forced to balance the potential risks of this change with the benefits in the midst of a deadly pandemic.
“We have a crisis situation in the UK with a new variant spreading rapidly and, as was clear to everyone in 2020, delays cost lives,” said Evans. “When the resources of doses and people to be vaccinated are limited, vaccinating more people with potentially less efficacy is proven to be better than complete efficacy in just half.”
In England alone, 23,557 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Saturday. Although the figures for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have not been updated in recent days, they are higher than the peak across the UK during the first wave of the pandemic.
The government closed non-essential stores in London and parts of south-east England before Christmas to try to contain the new variant, but health officials say tougher measures are now needed.
Johnson said “difficult, difficult” weeks will come in the fight against COVID-19. More school closings, curfews and a total ban on household mixes may be on the agenda.
Although schools in London are already closed due to high infection rates in the capital, students in many parts of the country were returning to face-to-face classes on Monday after the Christmas break. The unions representing teachers, however, have called for schools across England to remain closed for at least two weeks, with classes switching to remote education.
Professor Andrew Pollard, one of the scientists who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, received his injection on Monday.
“It was a proud moment for me to receive the real vaccine that the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca teams have worked so hard to make available to the UK and the world,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Sylvia Hui contributed
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