OPERATION HOPE BEGINS
Thousands get vaccine today as Oxford jab is launched
THOUSANDS of people will make history today as they receive the first doses of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine in a rollout that boosts Britain’s hopes of escaping the pandemic.
In the biggest UK mass vaccination drive ever, half a million doses will be made available for vulnerable people this week with ‘tens of millions’ promised by April.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock hailed ‘ a historic day and a day of celebration’ over the jab created by Oxford University and at drug giant AstraZeneca.
He said: ‘ This is a pivotal moment in our fight against this awful virus and I hope it provides renewed hope to everybody that the end of this pandemic is in sight.’
Elderly and infirm people in Oxford, London, Brighton, Morecambe in Lancashire and Nuneaton in Warwickshire are due to be first to receive the jab. A total of 530,000 doses will be made available at 540 GP vaccination sites and 101 hospitals this week. The NHS has
‘Historic day of celebration’
ordered 100million doses which it is hoped will free the country from Covid-19. An army of current and former NHS staff have applied to give the jabs, with tens of thousands having already completed their training.
The vaccine is the second to be made available after a million Britons received the PfizerBioNTech jab. The Oxford vaccine is easier to use, as it does not require storage at extremely low temperatures.
Yesterday Boris Johnson hailed the UK’s vaccine progress. He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘The UK remains the first country to get a stage three approved vaccine into people’s arms. Vaccinating a million people, as we have already, we exceed the whole of the rest of Europe put together.’
A total of 524,439 people already vaccinated are aged 80 and over – around one in five of that age group. Supermarket giant Tesco and chemist Boots have offered to help with the rollout of the vaccines. Boots is opening three Covid-19 vaccination sites in Halifax, Huddersfield and Gloucester while Tesco will help distribute the Oxford vaccine.
The Ministry of Defence has deployed 10 military planners to assist the Government’s Vaccine Taskforce, with over 150 personnel working across the UK.
Rollout of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab began almost a month ago. But both jabs require second doses which will now take place within 12 weeks rather than 21 days as initially planned to ‘protect the greatest number of people in the shortest time’, health chiefs said.
The Government was yesterday forced to deny claims there was a ‘postcode lottery’ as GPs in some areas have not agreed to deliver the vaccine. Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said: ‘The overwhelming majority of GPs have opted to take part in delivering the vaccine through primary care networks. In areas where they have not yet agreed to take part, the NHS will deliver vaccinations in hospital hubs or dedicated centres.’
Yesterday Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford, who was involved in development of the jab with AstraZeneca, said successive UK governments had left the nation unable to manufacture vaccine at the pace needed in a pandemic.
A Government spokesman said: ‘ We have long recognised the importance of vaccine manufacturing, having announced an innovation centre in 2018 and invested £93million [last year] to rapidly accelerate its construction.’