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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that he will take the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca after several European countries stopped launching the jab over safety concerns.
Johnson rejected questions in parliament about why several countries had suspended use of the product developed by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company with scientists at the University of Oxford.
But he told lawmakers: “I finally got news and I have to have my own jab, very soon, I am pleased to find out.
“It will certainly be Oxford AstraZeneca, which I will have.”
Johnson, 56, is among the next category of people asked to get vaccinated. The government hopes to have offered it to all adults in July.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the schedule remains on track, despite England’s National Health Service warning in a letter to administrators that vaccine supplies will be “significantly limited” from March 29. up to a month.
“The vaccine supply is always spotty and we regularly send technical letters to the NHS to explain the ups and downs of the supply in the coming weeks,” Hancock told a news conference, insisting the letter was “standard” practice.
Britain has now given more than 25 million people a first dose of a COVID vaccine, including 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab, after starting a mass inoculation program in December last year.
You are also using a jab developed by Pfizer / BioNTech in your deployment program, but recipients typically do not get a vaccine option.
Johnson wrote in the Times newspaper that the AstraZeneca vaccine “is safe and works extremely well.” Hancock and England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam echoed that statement at the press conference.
– Real intervention –
European countries, including France, Spain and Germany, are among those that have stopped using the jab pending a review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) amid feared links to blood clots and brain hemorrhages.
Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, criticized opposition to coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday.
“Who would have thought, for example, that in the 21st century there would be a significant lobby group that would oppose vaccination, given its track record in eradicating so many terrible diseases,” he said in a Future Healthcare Journal article.
Charles, who has championed the launch of the vaccine among Britain’s most reluctant minority communities, added that the jab had the “potential to protect and rid some of the most vulnerable in our society from coronavirus.”
The 72-year-old Prince of Wales tested positive for coronavirus last year and suffered mild symptoms. He received his first dose of a vaccine in February.
His wife, Camilla, 73, confirmed Tuesday that he had received the AstraZeneca injection.
“Take what they give you,” he said as the couple visited a vaccination center in a north London mosque, adding that he had suffered no ill effects.
– ‘No evidence’ –
Professor Jeremy Brown of the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) said the suspension of the AstraZeneca jab “was not logical.”
“There is concern that what is happening in Europe could make people in the UK less confident in the AstraZeneca vaccine,” he told ITV broadcaster.
The EMA, the World Health Organization and Britain’s Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency have endorsed the AstraZeneca jab.
France and Italy have said they will “quickly restart” jabbing if the EMA review allows.
As Britain has moved forward with its vaccination program, European countries have been accused of playing politics to distract from their slow vaccine launches.
European leaders were angered in January after AstraZeneca announced that it could not deliver the agreed number of blows to the bloc.
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