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Salisbury Cathedral was a mere new construction when people came to pray for deliverance from the Black Death.
Several centuries later, it is giving hope against a modern plague.
Local doctors turned the cruise ship into a pop-up vaccination clinic, while people most vulnerable to COVID-19 they queued in the cloisters for their turn.
He was impressively efficient. And it must be so if the NHS is to reach the goal of immunizing nearly 15 million people in the world. four main priority groups in mid-February.
The deployment is expected to accelerate another march with the opening of seven more vaccination centers next week.
But a hiccup in Pfizer jab supply it is a warning that deliveries of a biological product are not guaranteed in any way.
The pharmaceutical company needs to temporarily close the taps at its facility in Belgium while updating the production line to meet global demand for doses.
It should mean vaccinations for 350 million more people over the next year.
But with the more transmissible Kent variant of the virus now spreading well beyond the UK, governments are understandably anxious.
The NHS also has the Oxford vaccine, of course.
But AstraZeneca is also continuing to increase production, aiming for 2 million doses a week by the end of the month.
Even that may not be enough to meet demand. GPs in some areas have already immunized 90% of their patients over 80 and want to move to those over 70.
The bottom line is that we need more vaccine suppliers, insurance against production problems.
But Modern He won’t start delivering his jab until April. It is too late for the big push to protect the 30 million people over the age of 50 who account for nearly all deaths and the majority of hospital admissions.
There are more vaccines on the horizon. Janssen and Novavax are close to revealing whether their experimental hits have protected volunteers against the virus in key clinical trials.
Then they’ll need to get safety approval from the UK medical regulator, so it could be well into the spring before their doses join the rollout.
Crossing your fingers will not be a problem.
If AstraZeneca can stay the course and Pfizer can successfully restart its production lines, then the NHS should have the vaccine supplies it needs.
For now at least.