Brian Pinker, 82, receives COVID-19 vaccine from Oxford University / AstraZeneca from nurse Sam Foster at Oxford Churchill Hospital as the NHS increases its vaccination program by 530,000 doses of recently approved jab available for launch across the UK on January 4, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Steve Parsons – WPA Pool / Getty Images)
Steve Parsons | WPA Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The British government announced on Sunday that it intends to administer to every adult in the country a first dose of coronavirus vaccine before 31 July, a month earlier than its previous target.
The new target also aims for all people over the age of 50 or with an underlying illness to receive a vaccine before April 15, instead of the previous goal of May 1st.
Manufacturers of the two vaccines used by Britain, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, have experienced supply problems in Europe. But UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who announced the new targets, said “now we think we have the supplies” to speed up the vaccination campaign.
The initial success of the British vaccination campaign is good news for a country that has suffered more than 120,000 deaths from coronavirus, the highest number in Europe. More than 17.2 million people, nearly a third of the country’s adults, have received the first of two doses of vaccine since inoculations began on Dec. 8.
Britain delays the dose of the second vaccine up to twelve weeks after the first, in order to give maximum partial protection to as many people as possible. The approach has been criticized in some countries – and by Pfizer, which says it has no data to support the delay – but is backed by scientific advisers from the UK government.
News of the new vaccination targets came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with senior ministers on Sunday to finalize a “roadmap” outside the national closure, a plan he will announce on Monday.
Faced with a dominant variant of the UK virus that scientists say is more transmissible and more deadly, Britain has spent much of the winter under close confinement. Bars, restaurants, gyms, schools, hairdressing salons and all non-essential shops have been closed while grocery stores, pharmacies and takeaways are still open.
The government has stressed that economic and social reopenings will be slow and prudent, as non-essential shopping or outdoor socializing is unlikely before April. Many children will return to school from March 8 and residents of nursing homes will be able to have a visitor from the same date.
The Johnson Conservative government has been accused of reopening the country too quickly after the first closure in the spring.
The number of new confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths are declining, but remain high, and Johnson says his roadmap opening would follow “data, not dates.”
But it is under pressure from conservative lawmakers, who argue that restrictions must be removed quickly to revive an economy that has been attacked by three closures in the past year.
John Edmunds, a member of the government’s scientific advisory group, said British hospitals continue to treat about 20,000 coronavirus patients, half of the January peak, but almost as high as the height of the first wave of spring.
“If we relaxed very quickly now, we would get another increase in hospitalizations and deaths,” he told the BBC.
Edmunds said there is added uncertainty over new virus variants, including one identified in South Africa that may be more resistant to current vaccines.
Hancock told Sky News that the government would take a “cautious but irreversible approach” to reopening the economy.