Brian Pinker, 82, receives COVID-19 vaccine from Oxford University / AstraZeneca from Nurse Sam Foster at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, South West England, on January 4, 2021. –
STEVE PARSONS | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON – The UK has begun rolling out the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, marking a further step in its battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
The country’s National Health Service (NHS) is the first in the world to deploy the punch after last week the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved it for use in the UK. The NHS said Brian Pinker, 82, was the first person in the world to receive him on Monday morning.
Approval and deployment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is seen as an advantage in the race against Covid-19, as it is cheaper than the alternatives created by Pfizer and 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 aimed to “supply millions of doses during the first quarter” as part of its agreement with the UK government to supply up to 100 million doses in total. .
As a two-dose vaccine, the agreement means that up to 50 million people could be inoculated in the UK, which has a population of around 66 million.
In a statement on Monday, the UK government said there are already more than half a million doses available, “with tens of millions more to deliver in the coming weeks and months once the MHRA has checked the quality of the batches” .
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is in addition to a Covid-19 immunization program that was already launched in Britain in December, when it began rolling out the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. According to the government, more than a million people in the UK have already been vaccinated with the Pfizer shot. He said on Monday that more than 730 vaccination sites had been set up across the UK and that hundreds more were opening this week.
As with the Pfizer vaccine, the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot will be deployed first to priority groups, including residents and nursing home staff, people over 80 and health workers, and then to the rest of the population by age order and risk, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
“Crucial moment”
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “this is a crucial moment in our fight against this terrible virus and I hope it gives everyone renewed hope that the end of this pandemic is in sight”.
The launch of another vaccine could not arrive soon enough for the UK, which is struggling with an increase in infections, attributed mainly to a mutation in the virus that makes it spread more easily. The UK has reported more than 2.6 million cases of the virus and more than 75,000 deaths to date, according to a Johns Hopkins University account.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that there are likely to be more restrictions on public life as Covid-19 cases continue to rise.
On Monday, Hancock told Sky News that the UK could not deploy the vaccine faster than supply allows, but experts agree the UK needs to step up its vaccination program as quickly 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 the coronavirus outbreak.
On Saturday, The Times anonymously quoted a “key member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca team” as saying the drug maker would increase production so that two million bites would occur each week in mid-January.
This goal is achievable but difficult, according to Dr. Andrew Freedman, a lecturer in infectious diseases at Cardiff University School of Medicine. He told CNBC on Monday that the speed of the launch depends on “vaccine availability, vaccine production, but also its distribution and the creation of new vaccination centers and the hiring of new vaccinators.”
“It’s a goal, but it’s realistic and I think it can be achieved by the end of the month,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe”.
People at highest risk will be vaccinated first with shots that will initially be delivered to hospitals before most supplies are sent to hundreds of doctor’s offices and nursing homes over the weekend.
Somewhat controversial, the MHRA, the Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee (JCVI) and the four UK chief medical officers agreed to delay the gap between the first and second doses of coronavirus vaccines being given to the public. . According to them, the change in strategy was to allow the protection of as many people as possible in the shortest possible time.
The British Medical Association had said the decision to delay the follow-up dose of the Pfizer vaccine and cancel appointments for patients who already had the second dose was “totally unfair” for thousands of patients at risk. However, experts like Freedman said that for a vaccine like the Oxford-AstraZeneca candidate, a larger gap between doses could increase the effectiveness of the outbreak.
The government insisted last week that “the priority should be to give as many people in risk groups as possible the first dose, rather than providing the two necessary doses in the shortest possible time.”
“Everyone will still receive their second dose and it will be within 12 weeks of the first. The second dose completes the course and is important for long-term protection,” he added.