LONDON (AP) – Britain became the first nation in the world on Monday to start using the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and doctor AstraZeneca, accelerating a nationwide inoculation program as rising infection rates put pressure on precedent on British hospitals.
Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, received his first shot at 7:30 a.m. at Oxford University Hospital.
“Today’s nurses, doctors and staff were all great and now I can look forward to celebrating the 48th wedding anniversary with my wife, Shirley, later this year,” Pinker said. a statement published by the National Health Service.
The launch of the new vaccine comes at a crucial time for the UK authorities, which are battling an increase in the number of infections attributed to a new variant of the virus that authorities say is much more contagious. Scotland imposed a blockade by the end of January amid growing pressure on officials to tighten restrictions across the region.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said tougher measures were imminent, announced a nationwide address at 8 p.m. The British Parliament will be reminded to sit on Wednesday.
“If you look at the numbers, there’s no doubt that we’ll have to take tougher action and we’ll let them know in due course,” Johnson said as he visited some of the people who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at Chase Farm Hospital in north London.
The UK is in the midst of an acute outbreak, with over 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day in the last six days. On Sunday, it recorded another 54,990 cases and another 454 virus-related deaths, bringing the total confirmed death toll from the pandemic to more than 75,000, one of the worst in Europe. Some areas of north-east London have infection rates of over 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon says that from Tuesday, people in Scotland will be legally obliged to stay at home, except for key reasons that help reduce pressure on hospitals and intensive care units.
Under the new blocking rules in Scotland, people can go out for exercise, but they can only meet another person from another household. School closures are extended until February, except for the children of key workers and children in social care.
“I am more concerned about the situation we are facing now than we have been at any time since March last year,” she said.
Scotland, which has its own decentralized government, has often imposed stricter restrictions on coronavirus than those in England during the pandemic.
UK regulators last week authorized the emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca fire, giving public health officials a second vaccine in their medical arsenal. The UK mass vaccination program began on December 8, with the shooting developed by Pfizer in New York and its German partner BioNTech.
The UK has secured the rights to 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to use than some of its rivals. In particular, it does not require the super-cold storage required for the Pfizer vaccine.
The new vaccine will be given to a small number of hospitals in the first few days, so that the authorities can be alert to any adverse reactions. However, the NHS said hundreds of new vaccination sites – including local doctors’ offices – would open later this week, joining the more than 700 vaccination sites already in operation.
A “massive growth operation” is now underway as part of the vaccination program, Johnson said. But aspects of Britain’s vaccination plans have sparked controversy.
Both vaccines require two vaccines, and Pfizer recommended that the second dose be given within 21 days of the first. But the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said authorities should administer the first dose of vaccine to as many people as possible, rather than setting aside vaccines to make sure others receive two doses. It extended the time between doses from 21 days to 12 weeks.
While two doses are needed to fully protect against COVID-19, both provide high levels of protection after the first dose, the committee said. Making the first priority dose will “maximize the benefits of the short-term vaccination program,” he said.
Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said policy makers are forced to balance the potential risks of this change with the benefits in the midst of a deadly pandemic.
“We have a crisis situation in the UK, with a new variant spreading rapidly and, as it became clear to everyone in 2020, delays are costing lives,” Evans said. “When dosage resources and people to be vaccinated are limited, then vaccinating more people with potentially lower efficacy is demonstrably better than more complete efficacy in just half.”
In England alone, 23,557 people were hospitalized on Saturday with COVID-19. While figures for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have not been updated in recent days, this is higher than the UK peak during the first pandemic wave.
The government closed non-essential stores across London and parts of the south-east of England before Christmas to try to contain the new option, but health officials say tougher measures are needed.
Johnson said there are still “tough, tough” weeks in the fight against COVID-19. More school closures, time offs and a total ban on mixing in households could be on the agenda.
While schools in London are already closed due to high rates of infections in the capital, pupils in many parts of the country were returning to in-person classes on Monday after the Christmas holidays. However, teachers’ unions have called for schools across England to remain closed for at least two weeks, with classes moving to distance learning.
Professor Andrew Pollard, one of the scientists who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, was shot on Monday.
“It was an incredibly proud moment for me to receive the actual vaccine that the University of Oxford and the AstraZeneca teams have worked so hard to make available to the UK and the world,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Sylvia Hui contributed
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