Speedy vaccine rollout is UK’s key out of lockdown
BRITAIN is fast-tracking its vaccination program with a single dose regime aiming to get 15 million people at higher risk vaccinated by the middle of March.
The decision to speed up the jab rollout pulled focus as the country was plunged into a deep lockdown for up to seven weeks, with schools, shops, pubs and restaurants closed.
The lockdown will be similar to Melbourne’s harsh lockdown, however, there will be no curfews, as cases have topped 50,000 a day for almost a week.
The UK was the first in the world to approve the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine last month, which was originally designed for two doses 21 days apart.
It was also the first country to sign off on the Oxford University and AstraZeneca jab, which was meant to be two doses 28 days apart.
But British scientists ordered that the doses be spread 12 weeks apart to allow more vulnerable people to be vaccinated instead of using supplies for second injections immediately.
Professor Andrew Pollard, who was behind the team at Oxford working on the vaccine, backed the new approach after he received a dose on
Monday morning UK time. Some doctors complained that they were forced to cancel second dose appointments for patients over 80 years old.
But England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan VanTam said at the weekend that the extended gap would save lives.
“If a family has two elderly grandparents and there are two vaccines available, it is better to give both 89 per cent protection than to give one 95 per cent protection with two quick doses, and the other grandparent no protection at all,” he said in an opinion piece in a British newspaper.
“The virus is unfortunately spreading fast, and this is a race against time.
“My mum, as well as you or your older loved ones, may be affected by this decision, but it is still the right thing to do for the nation as a whole.”