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LONDON: Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week, initially making the injection available in hospitals before distributing stocks at doctors’ clinics, the government on Sunday (December 6).
The first doses will be administered on Tuesday, and the National Health Service (NHS) will give top priority to vaccinating those over 80, frontline healthcare workers and nursing home staff and residents.
Britain approved the emergency use of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech last week, advancing the global race to start the most crucial mass inoculation program in history.
In all, Britain has ordered 40 million doses, enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million.
About 800,000 doses are expected to be available during the first week.
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The initial doses that have arrived from Belgium are stored in secure locations throughout the country, where their quality will be controlled, the Health Ministry said.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has burdensome storage requirements. It should be kept at -70 degrees Celsius and only lasts for five days in a normal fridge.
For that reason, the Health Ministry said the vaccine would be administered first in 50 hospitals. He said it would take a few hours to thaw each vaccine and prepare it for use.
NHS England has written to general practitioners, telling them to prepare to start administering vaccines through local medical services from December 14.
Britain reported 17,272 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to more than 1,723 million.
The country also recorded 231 deaths from the disease, up from 397 the day before, bringing the total number of deaths measured by the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test to 61,245.
READ: UK medical chiefs forecast major drop in COVID-19 deaths in early 2021
Instead of running clinics in individual surgeries, groups of local doctors will operate more than 1,000 vaccination centers across the country, the government said.
The vaccine boxes contain five 975-dose packages, but special regulatory approval is required to divide them. A senior medical official has said that while he was hoping it would be possible to divide the packages and deliver them directly to nursing homes, it was not guaranteed.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and Prince Philip, 99, are in line to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine ahead of time due to their age. (Photo: AFP / Adrian DENNIS)
VACCINE FOR QUEEN
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will receive the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech in a few weeks, according to reports on Saturday night.
The 94-year-old monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, 99, are in line to receive the early jab due to their age and will not receive preferential treatment, the Mail on Sunday reported.
The newspaper said Britain’s top royals would reveal that they have been given the vaccine “to encourage more people to take the vital jab” amid fears that so-called anti-vaccines could take a toll on your enthusiasm.
Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Britain is among the first nations to implement vaccines outside the context of a clinical trial, raising hope that the tide may soon turn against a virus that has killed nearly 1.5 million people worldwide and has hit the world economy.
READ: Britain on ‘latest roll of the dice’ as EU trade talks restart
Plans are reportedly stepping up to ensure that any complications arising from the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31 do not affect their implementation.
The vaccine will be manufactured at Pfizer’s plant in Puurs, Belgium. The Observer reported on Saturday night that ministers have drawn up contingency plans to send millions of doses to Britain on military aircraft in the event of a Brexit-related disruption at UK ports.
“We will do this if necessary,” a spokesman for the health department told the newspaper.
Talks to finalize a free trade agreement between the UK and the EU and avoid possible chaos in January are currently stalled, with just a few days to seal a deal.
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