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The prime minister has said there will be “no change” to England’s blockade relief roadmap, despite the NHS ‘warning of a “significant reduction” in the supply of coronavirus vaccines next month.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Boris johnson He said the “country’s progress on the road to freedom continues unchecked.
“We are still on our way to taking back the things we love, to seeing our families and friends again, to going back to our local pubs, to our gyms and sports facilities and, of course, to our stores,” he added.
COVID updates live from the UK and around the world
Need to retest more than a million and a half COVID-19 vaccine doses, as well as delays in doses arriving from India, will lead to a cut in shock supply next month.
Addressing this in the latest briefing 10, Johnson said: “We have always said that in a vaccination program of this pace and scale some supply disruptions are unavoidable and it is true that in the short term we are receiving fewer vaccines than we would. we had planned a week ago. “
He added: “We will receive a little less vaccines in April than in March, but it is still more than we received in February.”
The prime minister said the Indian government had not prevented the delivery of doses to Britain, blaming the delay for “various technical reasons.”
However, Johnson said that “the supply that we have will still allow us to meet the targets that we have set” for vaccines.
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‘AstraZeneca vaccine is safe,’ says EU regulator
The UK has set itself a goal of offering everyone in the top nine priority groups, everyone over 50 and everyone with an underlying health condition, a hit by mid-April.
Meanwhile, the plan is to vaccinate all UK adults by the end of July.
Johnson revealed at the press conference that he would take a hit from Oxford-AstraZeneca on Friday.
More than a dozen EU countries have suspended its use after reports that some people suffered blood clots after being vaccinated.
But the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK drug regulator, has said that any link between the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 injection and blood clots are unproven and the benefits of the vaccine outweigh any risks.
The World Health Organization has said that the benefits of receiving the vaccine outweigh any risks, while the European Medicines Agency said Thursday that the jab it was “safe and effective” to use.
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No jab appointments ‘canceled’ in April
“The Oxford jab is safe and the Pfizer jab is safe; what is not safe is contracting COVID, which is why it is so important that we all receive our jabs as soon as our turn comes,” said the prime minister.
The MHRA said it has received five reports of a specific brain blood clot in people who have received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, although a causal link with the vaccine has not been established.
All five were men between the ages of 19 and 59 who experienced a clot along with a low blood platelet count. One of them has since died.
The MHRA is investigating the reports, but stressed that the events were “extremely rare” and could have been caused by the coronavirus itself.
It is not known at this stage if the individuals had underlying health problems.
The MHRA said the number of cases translated into a less than one in a million chance of suffering from this type of clot among those who have had the jab.
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Dr Sarah Schiffling, Senior Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, talks to Sky’s Ian King about vaccine supply issues.
In contrast, the risk of dying from coronavirus between the ages of 40 and 49 was one in 1,000.
MHRA CEO Dr. June Raine told the Downing Street news conference that the regulator was constantly monitoring vaccine safety to help identify new side effects.
He said the MHRA had conducted a “rigorous scientific review of all available data regarding suspected blood clots.”
He said this review, along with evaluation by independent scientists from the Human Medicines Commission, showed that “there is no difference that blood clots in veins are occurring any more than would be expected in the absence of vaccination for any of vaccines “.
Dr. Raine added: “The public can have every confidence in the thoroughness of our review.”
Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said in the same briefing: “This is a very important disease that is very common, with a very effective vaccine – two vaccines in the case of AZ and Pfizer.”
“Real problems that we always have to think about with all the medications, but they are far less than the benefits of receiving the vaccines.”
He said there were “anecdotal reports” of a small number of people not showing up in the wake of the headlines surrounding the Oxford-AstraZeneca coup.
But Professor Whitty said there had been no pronounced effect on acceptance, stating: “The general public is, as always, level-headed and firm on this. They understand that this is a dangerous disease.”
In front of the deputies early thursday To answer questions about the vaccine launch, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK “is right now in the middle of some extraordinary weeks of supply.”
On Wednesday it was announced that the UK has administered more than 25 million first doses.
However, the Health Secretary admitted that the supply in April will be “tighter than this month and we have a large number of second doses to deliver.”
About 12 million people will require their second hit next month.
Hancock insists that the reduction in supply will not affect the targets for the launch of vaccines in the UK.
