JAB IS SAFE... AND NO DELAY TO FREEDOM
PM’s booster for Britain after week of setbacks
BORIS Johnson last night urged Britons to ‘get the jab done’ as regulators declared the Oxford vaccine safe.
The Prime Minister, who will have the AstraZeneca injection himself today, said a supply shortfall next month will not jeopardise the ‘road to freedom’.
He said both the European Medicines Agency and the UK’s own regulator had confirmed its safety and effectiveness despite a week of scare stories in Europe.
Speaking at a No 10 press conference, he said: ‘The Oxford jab is safe and the Pfizer jab is safe. The thing that isn’t safe is catching Covid – which is why it’s so important that we all get our jabs as soon as our turn comes... So let’s get the jab done.’
Flanked by chief medical officer Chris Whitty and vaccine regulator June Raine, he insisted the shortfall that is set to cause a slowing of the rollout next month will not derail plans to ease lockdown.
‘The supply we do have will still enable us to hit the targets we have set,’ he said. ‘Our progress along the road to freedom continues unchecked. We remain on track to reclaim the things we love, to see our families and friends again, to return to our
local pubs, our gyms and sports facilities and, of course, our shops.’
Europe’s EMA regulator yesterday ruled the AZ jab ‘safe and effective’, after a string of countries suspended its use this week. In the wake of the ruling, France, Germany, Spain and Italy all said they would resume using it.
The PM’s pledge to hit the existing targets means the over-50s and the clinically vulnerable will still be offered a first dose by April 15, while second doses will be available to around 12 million people over the course of next month.
Every adult will be offered a first dose by the end of July, as planned. But people in their forties who had hoped to get theirs next month may now have to wait until May. Mr Johnson’s intervention came as:
■ Britain opened secret talks with India over delays to five million AZ jabs due to be sent to the UK;
■ It was suggested the Indian government had temporarily blocked exports of the vaccine amid a surge in cases in the country;
■ Health Secretary Matt Hancock said further delays had been caused by the need to retest a batch of 1.7 million doses already in the UK;
■ French PM Jean Castex said he would be having the AZ jab today to restore public confidence;
■ A former Finnish PM said he had been shocked by the vaccine disinformation spread by EU leaders;
■ The UK regulator said people with a headache lasting more than four days after vaccination should seek medical help following a handful of rare blood clot cases;
■ Another 95 Covid deaths were recorded – a fall of more than a third in the last week – with hospitalisations down by a quarter to 426;
Last night’s press conference was designed to reassure the public that Britain’s successful vaccination programme remains on track despite a series of blows this week.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth told MPs that scare stories on the continent were having a knock-on effect in the UK. He said hundreds had failed to turn up for appointments at London’s Excel Centre due to ‘misinformation circulating online’.
Professor Whitty last night acknowledged there were anecdotal reports that some people had been put off having their jab this week. But he pointed to figures showing that more than a million had received their vaccination in the previous 48 hours.
‘The risks are so much smaller than the benefits,’ he said. ‘The general public is, as always, sensible and steady on this. They understand this is a dangerous disease.’
Dr Simon Clarke, from the University of Reading, said the ‘ripple effects’ of the vaccine supply shortfall could last for months, adding: ‘It will undoubtedly make the meeting of the target dates for lifting restrictions more difficult than they otherwise would have been.’
Adam Finn, of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunology, said the slowdown in giving first doses next month ‘could have an effect on infection rates’. This, in turn, could have a knock-on effect on decisions over the lockdown.
But Tory MPs said that, with most vulnerable people now vaccinated, the Government should move faster on easing restrictions.
Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of MPs, said deaths, hospitalisations and infection rates had fallen ‘pretty significantly’. He added: ‘If data not dates is going to mean anything then I think the Government is going to have to bring some things forward or explain why things can’t change earlier. It will look increasingly ridiculous otherwise.’
Ex-Cabinet minister Chris Grayling said indoor hospitality should be allowed to reopen at the same time as non- essential shops on April 12. He said pubs and restaurants had spent heavily on making their premises Covid- secure and were ‘going bust right now, because they cannot hang on any longer’.
The suspension of the AZ vaccine by some EU countries is feared to have further undermined public confidence in vaccination on the continent. France’s Emmanuel Macron initially claimed the jab was ‘quasi-ineffective’ among older people before later endorsing it. Germany also reversed a ban on its use among the over-65s.
Peter Openshaw, a member of one of the subgroups of the Government’s expert Sage committee, said that the tactics would cost many lives. He told Times Radio: ‘Because of this delay, and because of the uncertainty now of the vaccine in some people’s minds...I think it will probably run to thousands of lives that have been lost.’
‘Misinformation is circulating’
IT’S an appalling breach of trust. India was given licence to produce the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine on condition that a certain quantity would be exported to Britain. It is now reneging on the deal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is apparently blocking the shipment of five million doses because a second wave is surging through his own country. As a consequence, the rollout here will be significantly slowed down.
True, it’s not quite as bad as the conduct of our ‘ friends’ in Europe, who have threatened to suspend AstraZeneca’s patent rights and seize its factories. But it is still shocking ingratitude.
It also shows how the Covid vaccine has become the world’s most valuable commodity, with national leaders seemingly prepared to scramble over each other and break rules to get hold of it.
Mercifully, Britain has been able to rise above this unseemly fray. Thanks to Boris Johnson’s foresight and the triumph of the vaccination programme we lead the world in the Covid fight.
Contrast that with the dithering of Europe’s political elites. Having failed to secure supplies early enough, they are now seeking scapegoats for their own incompetence. Their ludicrous flip-flopping over the safety of the Oxford vaccine has scared many people off having it and almost certainly cost lives.
The European Medicines Agency finally declared the jab ‘ safe and effective’ yesterday, but the damage had been done.
So how badly does the Indian export ban affect Britain? Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s ‘nothing to see here’ performance on Wednesday was hardly convincing.
At the Downing Street briefing he first declared a day of ‘ great’ vaccine news – before reluctantly admitting there was likely to be a serious supply shortfall.
By not being more candid, and failing even to mention the problems in India, he inevitably sowed seeds of doubt, especially as we then discovered that a batch of 1.7million doses has been recalled for tests.
Let us be clear. The spectacularly successful vaccination programme has put us in an excellent position. Equally, despite all the sound and fury, there seems to be no real cause for alarm.
But ministers must be scrupulously honest about setbacks – however temporary – as well as trumpeting good news. Any suspicion they are not coming clean and the overwhelming public confidence they currently enjoy could quickly melt away.