UK PM Johnson says vaccine may not come to fruition soon
The UK is ramping up facilities to produce Covid-19 vaccine on a mass scale, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday cautioned that a successful vaccine is a “very long way” off. Johnson is facing criticism for issuing confusing guidance on easing lockdown restrictions, which have led to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland retaining the widely effective earlier ‘stay home’ message, while England has moved to ‘stay alert’, which implies some easing.
He accepted that there is ‘frustration’ over the complex curbs, and wrote in The Mail on Sunday: “I said we would throw everything we could at finding a vaccine. There remains a very long way to go, and I must be frank that a vaccine might not come to fruition”.
“But we are leading the global effort. Some of the most promising research into vaccines is happening right here in the UK and this weekend we are announcing a £93 million investment to open the new Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre a full 12 months ahead of schedule”. The under-construction facility will have capacity to produce enough vaccine doses to serve the entire UK population in as little as six months.
So far 34,466 people have died in Britain after testing positive. 19 HELD FOR BREAKING SOCIAL DISTANCING London police arrested 19 people on Saturday for deliberately breaking social distancing guidelines in protest against the rules. The Metropolitan Police said that a group in central London’s Hyde Park had been protesting about the government’s response to the Covid-19, and had failed to comply with repeated requests to disperse.