“Crucial moment” when Britain launched the AstraZeneca vaccine

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will become the first country to launch the low-cost, easily transportable COVID-19 AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccine on Monday, a step further in the global pandemic response.

Six hospitals in England will administer the first of Britain’s 530,000 doses ready. The program will be expanded to hundreds of other British sites in the coming days and the government expects to deliver tens of millions of doses in a few months.

“This is a crucial moment in our fight against this terrible virus and I hope it will give everyone new hope that the end of this pandemic is in sight,” Health Minister Matt Hancock said in a statement.

Last month, Britain became the first country to use a different vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, which has to be stored at very low temperatures. To date, Britain has injected around a million people.

The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper and can be stored at refrigerator temperature, making it easy to transport and use. India approved the vaccine on Sunday for emergency use.

Cases of COVID-19 in Britain have risen sharply in recent weeks, fueled by a new and more transmissible variant of the virus. Nearly 55,000 new cases occurred on Sunday and a total of more than 75,000 people in the country have died of COVID-19 during the pandemic, the second highest number in Europe.

While the government has sought to acclaim its vaccination program as the most advanced in the world, it has had to balance the optimism of this message and urge the public to adhere to the rules to prevent new infections.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that tougher restrictions are likely to be introduced, even with millions of citizens already living below the strictest level of rules.

The spread of the variant virus has also forced the government to change its approach to vaccination. Now Britain is prioritizing getting a first dose of vaccine to as many people as possible before giving two. Delaying the distribution of second dams should help stretch the supply.

The change in strategy has drawn criticism from some British doctors.