The British government said on Sunday that every adult in the country should receive a premiere coronavirus vaccine shot by 31 July, at least one month earlier than its previous target, as it prepared to establish a ‘cautious’ plan to ease the blockade of the United Kingdom.
The previous goal was for all adults to get a jab by September. The new target also requires all those aged 50 and over and those with a basic health condition to receive the first of the two vaccines by April 15, rather than the previous date of May 1.
The manufacturers of the two vaccines used by the United Kingdom, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, have both had supply problems in Europe. But UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that “now we think we have supplies” to speed up the vaccination campaign.
The early success of Britain’s vaccination effort is good news for a country that has had more than 120,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest value in Europe. More than 17.5 million people, a third of adults in the UK, have had at least one vaccine since vaccinations began on December 8.
The UK is late in administering the second dose of the vaccine up to 12 weeks after the first, rather than three to four weeks, in order to quickly provide partial protection to more people. The approach has been criticized in some countries – and by Pfizer, which says it has no data to support the range – but is backed by scientific advisers to the British government.
There have been reports of new vaccination targets Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with senior ministers on Sunday to finalize a “roadmap” outside the national blockade. He plans to announce details in Parliament on Monday.
Faced with a dominant variant of the virus that scientists say is both more transmissible and more deadly than the original virus, Britain has spent much of the winter under close deadlock. Bars, restaurants, gyms, schools, hair salons and all non-essential shops were closed; grocery stores, pharmacies and eateries for food are still open.
The government stressed that economic and social reopening will be slow and cautious, with non-essential shopping or outdoor socializing unlikely before April. Many children will return to school starting March 8, and nursing home residents will be able to have a visitor on the same date.
Johnson’s Conservative government has been accused of reopening the country too soon after the first spring blockade. The number of new confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths is declining in February, but remains high, and Johnson says the roadmap for its reopening will follow “data, not data.”
But he is under pressure from Conservative lawmakers, who say restrictions should be lifted quickly to revive an economy that has been hit by three deadlocks in the past year.
John Edmunds, a member of the government’s scientific advisory group, said British hospitals were still treating nearly 20,000 coronavirus patients, half of the peak in January, but almost as much as the height of the first wave last spring.
“If we could handle it very quickly now, we would have a new increase in hospitalizations and deaths,” he told the BBC.
Edmunds said there was additional uncertainty over new virus variants, including one identified in South Africa, that could be more resistant to current vaccines.
Hancock told Sky News that the government would take a “prudent but irreversible approach” to reopening the economy.
Despite the success of the fastest vaccination campaign in Europe, the British government has been accused of failing to protect people with disabilities, who are among those most at risk of coronavirus.
The Bureau of National Statistics found that 60% of people who died of coronavirus in England in 2020 had a physical or mental disability. But many people with disabilities, other than those with “severe or profound” learning disabilities, have not been included in a priority group for vaccination.
Jo Whiley, a well-known BBC radio DJ, highlighted on Sunday the suffering of his sister, Frances, aged 53, who has a learning disability. Whiley said her sister contracted the coronavirus in an outbreak at her care home, whose residents had not been vaccinated.
Whiley said his sister was finally given a vaccine – but it came too late.
“She was actually called for the vaccine last night. My mother received a message saying she could be vaccinated, but it’s too late, she’s fighting for her life,” the hospital told the BBC. – It couldn’t be more cruel.