“Crucial moment” when the UK launched the AstraZeneca vaccine

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will become the first country to launch the easy-to-carry COVID-19 AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccines on Monday, another step forward in the global pandemic response.

Six hospitals in England will administer the first of 530,000 doses prepared by the UK. The program will be expanded to hundreds of other British sites in the coming days, and the government hopes to deliver tens of millions of doses in a few months.

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

Last month, the UK became the first country to use a different vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, which must be kept at very low temperatures. The United Kingdom has so far injected about a million people.

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

Cases of COVID-19 in the UK have risen sharply in recent weeks, fueled by a new, more transmissible variant of the virus. There were almost 55,000 new cases on Sunday, and a total of more than 75,000 people in the country died of COVID-19 during the pandemic – the second largest in Europe.

While the government was keen to call its vaccination program the furthest in the world, it had to balance the optimism of the message and urge the public to follow the rules to prevent new infections.

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

The spread of the virus variant has also forced the government to change its approach to vaccination. The United Kingdom gives priority to receiving a first dose of vaccine in as many people as possible over the administration of second doses. Delaying the distribution of two photos should help extend the supply.

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