An 82-year-old dialysis patient became the first person in the world to receive the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca AZN on Monday.
and Oxford University since it was approved for use in the UK, which is struggling with a rapidly growing number of coronavirus cases.
Brian Pinker, a retired maintenance manager, was shot at 7.30am GMT by nurse Sam Foster at Churchill Hospital in Oxford. “I am so excited to receive the COVID vaccine today and I am very proud that it was invented in Oxford,” Pinker said in a statement issued by the National Health Service.
Over half a million doses of vaccine from the drug company AstraZeneca AZN,
and Oxford University will be available from Monday, with tens of millions more to be delivered in the coming weeks and months, once the lots are quality checked by the regulator, the government said.
The British government has provided access to 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which has been authorized for emergency use by the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, on 30 December.
The images will be delivered to 730 vaccination sites already established in the UK, and more will open this week to bring the total to over 1,000, the government said in a statement.
“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,” said Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Hancock’s comments come almost a month after the UK began launching the vaccine developed by the American drug company Pfizer PFE,
and its German partner BioNTech BNTX,
with more than 1 million people now receiving their first dose of the two-dose dose.
Last week, the MHRA, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, and four chief medical officers in the UK agreed to delay the gap between the first and second doses of vaccines, in an attempt to protect as many people as possible in the shortest possible time. time.
The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is easier to transport and store than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which must be kept at minus 70 degrees until shortly before use, facilitating delivery to nursing homes.
The launch of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine comes amid a resurgence of coronavirus cases in the UK, with over 50,000 new coronavirus cases registered for the sixth day in a row. On Sunday, 54,990 new infections and 454 deaths were recorded, according to government data.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC’s national broadcaster that tougher measures may be needed in parts of the country in the coming weeks to control the rapid spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. “If we look at the numbers, there is no doubt that we will have to take tougher action and we will announce them in time,” Johnson said. He will set plans for England at a televised address at 20:00 GMT on Monday.
Read: The slow release of the COVID-19 vaccine in the US could predict several problems
Earlier on Monday, Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced new blocking rules, with a legal requirement for everyone in mainland Scotland to stay home, except for essential purposes, from midnight tonight until the end of January.
“As a result of this new variant, [the virus] he has just learned to run much faster and has certainly picked up the pace in the last two weeks, ”Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament.
Meanwhile, some European Union leaders have been criticized for the slow pace of their vaccination programs, which began on December 27 using the Pfizer – BioNTech shot.
BioNTech CEO Uğur Shahin told German newspaper Der Spiegel that the process in Europe was “certainly not as quick and easy” as in other countries, in part because the EU is not directly authorized and the Member States they have a say.
Read: Why France’s wrong COVID vaccination campaign is seen as a Macron fiasco and a failure of the “ruling elite”
The French government has pledged to speed up vaccination after inoculating just over 350 people with the Pfizer-BioNtech shot in the first six days, compared to 238,000 in Germany. From Monday, medical staff aged 50 and over in France will receive the shots. Vaccines in the Netherlands will not be administered until 8 January, when the IT system needed for planning and recording photos will be ready.
Several European countries are set to expand their blockages amid rising coronavirus cases. On Saturday, France moved into a night hairstyle in 15 departments from 20 to 18 pm German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to meet with German heads of state on Tuesday to decide whether to extend the current blockade after Jan. 10.