[ad_1]
02:29
On Monday, the British government will start rolling out the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. 100 million doses were ordered, enough to vaccinate 50 million people.
On average, the vaccine is 70.4 percent effective. But when given with a half dose and then a full dose, the vaccine can be up to 90 percent effective.
The government hopes this will reduce the wave of COVID-19 infections of the new variant that is currently spreading across the UK.
CLICK: DO YOU REMEMBER THESE? OUR TOP STORIES OF 2020
Speaking to the BBC, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We hope we can make tens of millions over the next three months.”
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine costs $ 3 per dose and can be stored at refrigerator temperature, making it cheaper and easier to use than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The UK is already vaccinating healthcare workers, the elderly and nursing home residents and staff with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
A jab or two?
The government has also decided to give a dose to as many people as possible initially while waiting for more vaccine to be produced for the second hit, but this move has been criticized by the British Medical Association (BMA).
“We lack transparency as to when and where these vaccines will be delivered. We have suffered a confusion of vaccine promises and cancellations,” said BMA President Helena McKeown.
“We arranged the first doses and then the second ones were canceled. My poor medical colleagues were asked to cancel thousands of second dose appointments this week and next. We are not being treated as partners,” McKeown added.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government expected to vaccinate tens of millions of people in the next three months. / AP
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government expected to vaccinate tens of millions of people in the next three months. / AP
There is also confusion about the reopening of schools. Secondary schools in England will be closed for another two weeks. On Friday, the government decided that London’s primary schools should too. However, teachers in England want all schools to close until there is proof that it is safe to reopen.
Johnson urges people not to worry, insisting: “Schools are safe. The threat to children, to young people is very small, as scientists continually attest, and the risk to staff is very small.”
But people in the northwestern city of Liverpool, which conducted massive community tests in November, are not convinced. His council leaders are calling for a third national shutdown to contain the highly communicable variant of COVID-19.
Johnson has not ruled this out, saying “we may have to do things in the coming weeks that will be more difficult in many parts of the country. I am fully reconciled to that.”
It seems that many people across the UK are also reconciled to a long lockdown winter.
