Brian Pinker, 82, receives the COVID-19 vaccine from Oxford University / AstraZeneca from nurse Sam Foster at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, southwest England on January 4, 2021. –
STEVE PARSONS | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON – The UK has started to launch the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, marking another step in its battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
The country’s National Health Service (NHS) is the first in the world to implant the jab after it was approved for use in the United Kingdom by the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last week. The NHS said Brian Pinker, 82, was the first person in the world to receive the jab on Monday morning.
The approval and implementation of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is seen as a boon in the race against Covid-19, as it is cheaper than the alternatives created by Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna.
In addition, and unlike rival vaccines, it can be stored, transported and handled under normal refrigeration conditions (2 to 8 degrees Celsius or 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months.
When the vaccine was approved last week, AstraZeneca said it intended to “provide millions of doses in the first quarter” as part of its agreement with the UK government to provide up to 100 million doses in total.
As a two-dose vaccine, the agreement means that up to 50 million people in the United Kingdom, which has a population of about 66 million, can be inoculated.
In a statement on Monday, the UK government said more than half a million doses are now available “with tens of millions more to be delivered in the coming weeks and months, once the batches have been verified by the MHRA . “
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine joins a Covid-19 immunization program already started by Britain in December, when it started launching the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. More than a million people in the UK have already been vaccinated with the Pfizer injection, according to the government. He said Monday that more than 730 vaccination sites have been established across the UK and that hundreds more are being opened this week.
As with the Pfizer vaccine, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be implemented first for priority groups, including residents and nursing home staff, people over 80 and health and care professionals, and then for the rest of the population for order of age and risk, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
‘Crucial moment’
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “this is a crucial time 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”.
The launch of another vaccine could not happen soon for the United Kingdom, which is battling a wave of infections, attributed mainly to a mutation of the virus that makes it easier to spread. The UK has recorded more than 2.6 million cases of the virus and more than 75,000 deaths to date, according to a Johns Hopkins University count.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that further restrictions on public life are likely, as Covid-19 cases continue to rise.
On Monday, Hancock told Sky News that the UK could not launch the vaccine faster than the supply allows, but experts agree that the UK needs to step up its vaccination program as soon as possible. Last week, a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine concluded that Britain should vaccinate two million people a week to prevent a third wave of coronavirus outbreaks.
On Saturday, The Times newspaper anonymously quoted a “key member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca team” as saying that the drug maker would increase production so that two million jabs would be made each week in mid-January.
That goal is achievable, but challenging, according to Dr. Andrew Freedman, an infectious disease reader at Cardiff University School of Medicine. He told CNBC on Monday that the speed of launch depends “on the availability of the vaccine, on the production of the vaccine, but also on its distribution and the creation of new vaccination centers and the recruitment of new vaccinators.”
“It is a goal, but it is realistic and I think it can be achieved by the end of the month,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe”.
Those most at risk will be vaccinated first with injections administered initially in hospitals, before the bulk of supplies are sent to hundreds of doctor’s offices and nursing homes later in the week.
Somewhat controversially, the MHRA, the Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee (JCVI) and the four UK Medical Directors have agreed to delay the interval between the first and second doses of the coronavirus vaccines that are now given to the public. . The change in strategy, according to them, was to allow the protection of the largest number of people in the shortest time.
The British Medical Association said the decision to postpone the follow-up dose of the Pfizer vaccine and cancel appointments for patients already scheduled to receive the second dose was “grossly unfair” for thousands of patients at risk. However, experts like Freedman said that for a vaccine like the candidate Oxford-AstraZeneca, a longer interval between doses could increase the vaccine’s effectiveness.
The government insisted last week that “the priority should be to give the first dose to the largest number of people in risk groups, rather than providing the two necessary doses in the shortest possible time.”
“Everyone will still receive their second dose and this will occur within 12 weeks of the first. The second dose completes the course and is important for long-term protection,” he added.