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LONDON (AP) – The United Kingdom on Monday became the first nation in the world to begin using the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, ramping up a nationwide inoculation program as the rising infection rates are putting unprecedented pressure on British hospitals. .
Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, received the first injection at 7:30 a.m. at Oxford University Hospital.
“Today’s nurses, doctors, and staff have been brilliant, and I am now looking forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife, Shirley, later this year,” Pinker said in a statement released by the National Health Service. Health.
The launch of the new vaccine comes at a crucial time for UK authorities, who are battling an increase in infections attributed to a new variant of the virus that authorities say is far more contagious. Scotland imposed a lockdown until the end of January amid mounting pressure on officials to tighten restrictions across the UK.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has said tougher measures are imminent, announced a nationwide speech at 8pm. The UK Parliament will be called to sit on Wednesday.
“If you look at the numbers, there is no question that we will have to take stricter action and announce them in due course,” Johnson said while visiting some of the people who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at Chase Farm Hospital in the north. From london. .
The UK is in the midst of an acute outbreak, recording more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day for the past six days. On Sunday, it recorded another 54,990 cases and 454 more virus-related deaths to bring the total confirmed pandemic deaths to more than 75,000, one of the worst in Europe. Some areas northeast of London have infection rates of more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon says that as of Tuesday, people in Scotland will be legally required to stay at home except for essential reasons to help ease pressure on hospitals and intensive care units.
Under new lockdown rules in Scotland, people can go out to exercise, but can only meet one person from another household. School closures last until February, except for the children of key workers and children in social care.
“I am more concerned about the situation we are facing now than at any time since March of last year,” she said.
Scotland, which has its own delegate government, has often imposed stricter coronavirus restrictions than England’s during the pandemic.
UK regulators last week authorized the emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca injection, giving public health officials a second vaccine in their medical arsenal. Britain’s mass vaccination program began on December 8 with the injection developed by New York-based Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
Britain has secured the rights to 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to use than some of its rivals. In particular, it does not require the super cold storage necessary for Pfizer vaccine.
The new vaccine will be administered in a small number of hospitals during the first days so authorities can be on the lookout for any adverse reactions. But the NHS said hundreds of new vaccination sites, including local medical offices, will open later this week, joining the more than 700 vaccination sites already in operation.
A “massive increase operation” in the vaccination program is now underway, Johnson said. But some aspects of Britain’s vaccination plans have sparked controversy.
Both vaccines require two injections, and Pfizer recommended that the second dose be given within 21 days of the first. But the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said authorities should give the first dose of the vaccine to as many people as possible, rather than reserving injections to ensure that others get two doses. You have extended the time between doses from 21 days to 12 weeks.
While two doses are required to fully protect against COVID-19, both provide high levels of protection after the first dose, the committee said. Making the first dose the priority “will maximize the benefits of the vaccination program in the short term,” he said.
Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said lawmakers are forced to balance the potential risks of this change with the benefits amid a deadly pandemic.
“We have a crisis situation in the UK with a new variant that is spreading rapidly and, as has become clear to everyone during 2020, delays cost lives,” Evans said. “When resources for doses and people to vaccinate are limited, then vaccinating more people with potentially less efficacy is demonstrably better than more comprehensive efficacy by just half.”
In England alone, 23,557 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Saturday. While the figures for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have not been updated in recent days, that’s higher than the peak across the UK during the first wave of the pandemic.
The government closed non-essential stores in London and parts of south-eastern England before Christmas to try to contain the new variant, but health officials say stricter measures are now needed.
Johnson said there are “tough, tough” weeks ahead in the fight against COVID-19. More school closings, curfews and a total ban on domestic mixing could be on the agenda.
While schools in London are already closed due to high infection rates in the capital, students in many parts of the country were returning to face-to-face classes on the Monday after Christmas holidays. However, unions representing teachers have called for schools across England to be closed for at least two weeks, and for classes to be switched to distance learning.
Professor Andrew Pollard, one of the scientists who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, received his injection on Monday.
“It was an incredibly proud moment for me to have received the royal vaccine that Oxford University and the AstraZeneca teams have worked so hard to make available to the UK and the world,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Sylvia Hui contributed
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https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
