Vaccinations are set to begin on Tuesday in England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland said it would start vaccinating early in the week but did not specify which day.
The process is complicated by the need to store the Pfizer / Bioentech vaccine under strict conditions and give it to each recipient in three doses, within three weeks, which will be closely watched from around the world.
NHS Kesar Corderi, deputy chief executive of the providers, told Sky News on Sunday that 50 hospital hubs in England have already been allotted their vaccines, and vaccine distribution is “going really well.”
UK health officials expect 4 million doses of the Pfizer / Bioentech vaccine, which provides up to 95% protection against Covid-19, available by the end of December, Corderi said.
The government has so far ordered 40 million doses of Pfizer / Bioentech vaccine, enough for 20 million people, or a third of the UK. More deaths than Covid-19 have been reported in the UK than anywhere else in Europe.
“Yes, it has been shorter than other vaccine approval processes, but that’s because all of this has been thrown out at once.”
The head of the UK’s drug regulator also assured on Sunday that Pfizer / Bioentech would be “as safe as any common vaccine” and that recipients would be monitored by health officials.
“You may have a mild symptom, but it will probably disappear in a day or two, and not a serious one,” Jun Rain, head of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), told the BBC.
“Our goal of HMRA is to ensure that whatever the outcome, whatever the deal, drugs, medical devices and vaccines reach every part of the country equally without any disruption.”
Rational challenge
The first dose of the vaccine arrived in the UK on Thursday night, via a fleet of unmarked trucks from Belgium via Eurotunnel to unknown storage facilities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, according to ITV News affiliated with CNN.
Following the announcement of its approval by the UK government a day earlier, there was confusion over who would get the vaccine first and how it would be administered safely, given the logistical constraints.
The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has recommended vaccinating first-time care home residents for older adults and their staff, followed by people over 80, as well as health and care workers.
But the challenges involved in getting a vaccine to care for household residents mean health workers now plan to administer it first to people over the age of 0 who will be discharged from the hospital, or are attending outpatient visits.
NHS A statement from the UK said on Sunday: “Hospitals will start inviting more than 80s to work and book their staff in vaccination clinics by working with care home providers.” “Any appointments used for these groups will be used for health care workers who are most at risk of serious illness from covid.”
Raine told the BBC the exact timing could be “variable”, but she expected the vaccine to reach “definitely” care homes in the next two weeks. “
Northern Ireland’s health ministry said on Friday that about 25,000 doses of initial supplies had arrived, which “paved the way for vaccination teams to start vaccinating early next week.”
Scotland is set to receive 65,000 doses of the Pfizer / Bioentech vaccine from an initial batch of 800,000 doses distributed in the UK, Scottish Secretary of State Alastair Jack said in an op-ed in the Mail on Sunday.
He added that the armed forces were involved in the planning and logistics of the vaccination program.
Scottish Health Secretary Jean Freeman said those who get vaccinated will receive it first, followed by care home residents and staff, then all those 80 years and older and front-line health and social care workers.
She acknowledged the challenges surrounding transportation to care for vaccinated homes and individual residences, but added: “For all the difficulties ahead, we should all give real hope that the epidemic will end.”
Fausi apology
Other nations are not far behind the UK when it comes to deciding whether to allow vaccines.
America’s top infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday apologized that UK regulators had not carefully examined the data on the Pfizer / Biontech vaccine as much as their US counterparts.
At the end of the dark year, there were reports of many Britons approving the Pfizer / Bioentech vaccine as a ray of light.
It is hoped that UK approval could soon follow for a candidate for a vaccine developed by modern and British-Swedish drug manufacturers AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
But four chief medical officers in the United Kingdom warned in a letter that the winter would still be “particularly severe” and that people should not put up their own protection against the virus.
“The very welcome news about vaccines means we can look forward to 2021 with more optimism, but, vaccine deployment will reduce the numbers coming to healthcare with covid in just three months,” he said.
Russia began mass vaccination
Russia became the first country in the world to approve its coronavirus vaccine in corust, a crucial phase trial – which is still underway, allowing treatment for public use, which was carried out. The move drew criticism from scientific circles.
“Civil vaccination has started at 700 points in Moscow today. We work seven days a week, from morning to eight at night,” Natalya Nikolayevna Kuzhenkova, chief doctor of Moscow’s 6868 hospital, told CNN on Saturday.
Kuzhenkova removed questions about vaccine safety. “If there is a question between getting sick or getting vaccinated … this is a very dangerous disease that leads to serious consequences. So the answer is clear here,” he said.
“The vaccine has been officially registered. Two phases of the clinical trial have passed and we are now completing the third phase. Therefore, in this epidemic, in this case, this does not contradict any regulatory standards.” .
More than five thousand people have registered for vaccination in the first five hours, saying Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanyi is excited to participate early.
One of the vaccinators told CNN on Saturday that she was afraid to get vaccinated before the trial was over.
“Of course, there are some concerns. But I’m not trying to think about it,” said the woman, who works as an administrator at the hospital and calls herself simply Nadezhda. “I wanted to get immunity from the new Covid-19 infection. Protect myself and my family. Don’t get sick, don’t get in trouble, don’t get my loved one infected.”
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said last week that more than 100,000 Russian citizens had already received the Sputnik Vine vaccine.
Officials say there are enough doses for more than 2 million people in Russia, with a population of about 145 million.
CNN’s Sharon Braithwaite, Amy Cassidy, Zamira Rahim and Mary Ilushina contributed to the report.
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