EU will still be jabbing people in 2023
BRITAIN’S success in the vaccine ‘arms race’ against the EU has been such that Germany’s bestselling newspaper declared that it ‘envied’ the UK – and the numbercrunching shows why.
If the major European countries don’t dramatically accelerate the speed of their vaccine rollout, it could be 2023 before they have offered a jab to all adults.
No10 announced last week that it expected to have offered a vaccine to all UK adults by the end of July, as part of Boris Johnson’s ‘roadmap’ plan to lift all restrictions by June 21.
More than 19million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a vaccine, compared with just 5.5million in Germany and fewer than four million in France. If Germany
keeps to its current sevenday average of injecting 114,000 people a day, it will be another 551 days before it has reached every adult – on August 28, 2022.
In France, which is managing barely 92,000 jabs a day, liberation would not come until July 8, 2022. Other countries are faring even worse: Italy is due to hit the target on December 11, 2022, while Belgium is on course for May 22, 2023.
Britain’s success has been hailed by No10 as an illustration of the benefits of Brexit: the UK refused to join the EU’s cumbersome vaccine procurement plan, instead striking out on its own to make early deals for millions of doses.
In its article, the Bild newspaper said: ‘While the British are already planning their summer vacation, Germany is stuck in lockdown.’
It came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would not take the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot because German regulators have not approved it for over-65s – despite the scientific evidence that it is highly effective.
French President Emmanuel Macron initially questioned the AstraZeneca vaccine, but last week admitted that ‘the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine has been proven’. He added that he would take it – but at 43, and given his country’s current rate of progress, he will have to wait until next year.
A DOG was once returned to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home because its new owner decided it ‘didn’t match’ the sofa.
The callous treatment is revealed today by the former boss of the famous rescue centre, who says the unnamed individual was banned from any future adoptions. Claire Horton, who recently stepped down as the centre’s chief executive, tells Desert Island Discs that about ten per cent of rescue pets are returned within six months. She tells host Lauren Laverne: ‘Usually it will be a very genuine change in circumstances. So it could be an illness, someone might die.
‘Then we’ll get people who will bring them back because they hadn’t thought it was going to wee on the carpet or chew the bottom of the door. We even had a dog come back once because it didn’t match the sofa.’ As
Laverne recoils in horror, Ms Horton, 58, adds: ‘I know, I know, what can you say? We took the animal back because we never judge. We rehomed it to somebody who really cared.’
Ms Horton, who has three Battersea dogs of her own and a cat, says: ‘That’s the point about the whole Battersea premise around “Rescue is our favourite breed”. It’s not about what breed it is, or what colour it is. It’s just about being a rescue.’
She welcomes news that lockdown has seen a surge in rehoming, but warns against buying imported pets in poor condition from the internet or from unscrupulous puppy farmers.
Ms Horton, now director-general of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, is also asked the ageold question about whether she is a ‘dog or a cat person’.
‘The answer should be I love them both equally,’ she says. ‘But dogs for me every time.’
Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 today at 11am and will be repeated on Friday at 9am.
ONE of the BBC’s most senior journalists in Scotland has been forced to issue a clarification after an incorrect news report in which she said Alex Salmond wanted Nicola Sturgeon to resign.
Sarah Smith – who had to say sorry in May last year after claiming Ms Sturgeon ‘enjoyed’ taking a different route out of lockdown from the other countries of the UK – found herself in bother again following a news bulletin on Friday night’s Six O’Clock News. The BBC’s Scotland editor told viewers Mr Salmond, who had appeared earlier that day before a Holyrood committee, believed the First Minister had misled parliament and broken the Ministerial Code, which ‘he thinks means she should resign’. But during his evidence, Mr Salmond had skirted the issue, saying it was for others, including parliament, to decide his successor’s fate if she had breached the rules.
After a storm of protest on social media, Ms Smith posted a clarification on Twitter for her inaccurate report.
Last night, the BBC said: ‘We would like to clarify that Mr Salmond did not say the First Minister should resign.’