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Boris Johnson has promised 24/7 coronavirus injections will be given “as soon as we can,” as AstraZeneca said it expects to launch two million doses per week of the Oxford vaccine by mid-February. .
“We have released just over 1.1 million doses, to date, and we are scaling up, as we have said, very rapidly. And this will happen imminently, upon the release of two million doses per week, we are absolutely on track to do so, “said Tom Keith-Roach, President of AstraZeneca UK.
“We are increasing to two million a week imminently, and we certainly hope to be there in mid-February or sooner,” he told MPs from the Science and Technology Committee.
AstraZeneca says UK release of Oxford vaccine is increasing
The prime minister confirmed that the government is considering a 24-hour vaccination program to fulfill its promise to vaccinate the four most vulnerable groups in the UK by mid-February.
And his vaccine minister, Nadhim Zahawi, told MPs that ministers will “absolutely look” at the measure when asked about it, adding that he is confident the government will achieve its goal by next month.
The NHS needs to speed up inoculations to vaccinate 14 million people in just five weeks.
AstraZeneca said manufacturing is a biological process that cannot be accelerated, but the company is confident of supplying tens of millions of doses in the first quarter of 2021.
His head of investigation also provided evidence to the committee, telling MPs that his staff should have priority access to the jab to prevent COVID outbreaks from hampering production.
“One of the things that I’m concerned about is actually keeping a continuous supply and working on this vaccine,” said Sir Mene Pangalos.
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“Of course, with the outbreak and the pandemic where it is, I feel like it is critical that the people who are working on this vaccine are really immunized.
“Because if you have an outbreak in one of the centers, which we have actually had, or in one of the Oxford groups that is working on new variants, or the people that are working on the regulatory files, it all stops.
“This is a concern that I have, and again, we are pushing to try to immunize our key workers who are working on the vaccine project to try to prevent these outbreaks.”
He added that current data shows that an interval of eight to 12 weeks for the second dose of the Oxford vaccine is a “sweet spot for efficacy.”
The second dose of coronavirus vaccines is now being administered three months later than originally planned to ensure that more people receive a first dose to help fight the rising rate of COVID-19 infection in the UK.
Earlier, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, defended the decision to prioritize the first vaccines, rather than stick with the doses to give the booster injections after three weeks.
He told LBC Radio: “We all have elderly loved ones and if we want to protect as many as we can as quickly as possible, with a significant amount of protection, then the right strategy for us is to give the first initial dose and come back for the second when we have given more people the first initial dose, “he said.
“If you have two grandparents and you have two vaccinations, what do you do? Do you give one two doses and leave the other with nothing?”
