U. K. ramps up mass vaccination program

Britain’s health secretary said Sunday that every adult in the country will be offered a COVID19 vaccine by the autumn as the U. K. ramps up its inoculation program amid a huge surge of infections and hospital admissions.

More than 600,000 people age 80 and over will begin receiving invitations this week to get the coronavirus shot at new largescale vaccine centers around England. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said officials were “on track” to reach its target of inoculating about 15 million people in the most vulnerable groups by the middle of February.

The vaccination drive comes as the U. K. sees a steep increase in infections and record numbers of COVID19 patients being hospitalized, with many experts warning the situation is more dire than it was when the country went into its first lockdown last spring. The Office of National Statistics estimated that 1 in 50 people in England had the virus in the most recent week.

Hancock said that more than 200,000 people are being vaccinated in England every day, and that by autumn, the entire adult population should have been offered a shot.

“We’ve got over 350 million doses on order — they’re not all here yet. We’re rolling them out as fast as they get delivered,” he told the BBC. “But we are going to have enough to be able to offer a vaccine to everyone over the age of 18 by the autumn.”

That’s distant hope for doctors, nurses and emergency workers experiencing unprecedented pressure right now. Tracy Nicholls, the chief executive of the College of Paramedics, said members have reported ambulances left lining up outside hospitals waiting for up to nine hours, unable to hand patients over to emergency rooms.