Britain to offer all adults a COVID-19 vaccine by end of July

[rooster59]

Britain to offer all adults a COVID-19 vaccine by end of July

 

A person waits to get the coronavirus vaccine as a health worker prepares an injection with a dose, at a vaccination centre in Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, amid the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain, February 18, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

 

LONDON (Reuters) - All adults in Britain will be offered a first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of July, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday ahead of a planned announcement on the cautious reopening of the economy from lockdown.

 

Johnson will set out a roadmap to ease England's third national lockdown on Monday, having met a target to vaccinate 15 million Britons from higher-risk categories by mid-February.

 

Britain now aims to give a first dose to all over-50s by April 15, the government said, having previously indicated it wished them to receive the shot by May.

 

If all adults receive a dose by the end of July, it will be well ahead of a previous target that they would receive a vaccine by autumn.

 

After suffering the world's fifth-worst official COVID-19 death toll and a series of mishaps in its pandemic response, Johnson's government moved faster than much of the West to secure vaccine supplies, giving it a head start.

 

Johnson cautioned that there was a need to avoid complacency, adding that lockdown would only be lifted slowly.

 

"We will now aim to offer a jab to every adult by the end of July, helping us the most vulnerable sooner, and take further steps to ease some of the restrictions in place," Johnson said in a statement.  

 

"But there should be no doubt - the route out of lockdown will be cautious and phased, as we all continue to protect ourselves and those around us."

 

So far, he United Kingdom has given a first dose of vaccine to 17.2 million people, over a quarter of its 67 million population and behind only Israel and the United Arab Emirates in vaccines per head of population.

 

Two vaccines - one made by Pfizer and BioNTech, and another developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca - are being rolled out, and UK officials have advised that there can be a 12 week gap between doses.

 

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Ros Russell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-21

 

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[Scott]

Troll post removed.  This is a discussion forum.

 

[sammieuk1]

A year as a hermit is coming to an end break out the Cristal Boris ????

[Kadilo]

The only silver lining at the end of a disastrous year for this government. 

[RichardColeman]

So Uk will probably vaccinate ALL adults by July, whilst Thailand will probably have just started a roll out at a pace that will take another year or so - not so great for those poster saying 'well done thailand' ! 

[ukrules]

The COVID infection and hospitalisation data from July onwards in the UK will be very interesting.

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

So Uk will probably vaccinate ALL adults by July, whilst Thailand will probably have just started a roll out at a pace that will take another year or so - not so great for those poster saying 'well done thailand' ! 

One can only assume you are a gambler that can afford to lose. Before any facts were available the UK gambled on 7 vaccines, where would they be if none had worked, good luck more than good judgement.

Thailand doesn't have the same financial resources as the UK so instead of gambling and potentially losing, they waited until some positive data was available. With the covid situation so much better in Thailand than the UK the same desperation for vaccination doesn't exist, so "well done Thailand".

[Cake Monster]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

So Uk will probably vaccinate ALL adults by July, whilst Thailand will probably have just started a roll out at a pace that will take another year or so - not so great for those poster saying 'well done thailand' ! 

Take note Thailand.

The UK has a very similar population.

[GroveHillWanderer]

46 minutes ago, sandyf said:

One can only assume you are a gambler that can afford to lose. Before any facts were available the UK gambled on 7 vaccines, where would they be if none had worked, good luck more than good judgement.

Thailand doesn't have the same financial resources as the UK so instead of gambling and potentially losing, they waited until some positive data was available. With the covid situation so much better in Thailand than the UK the same desperation for vaccination doesn't exist, so "well done Thailand".

I've no idea why you think of it as a gamble. The UK government signed agreements guaranteeing that if and when the vaccines were available, they would receive the doses of vaccines that they would need. 

 

If a particular vaccine didn't prove successful then it would never be available to buy, so they would not have to pay anything.

 

There was no risk of losing any money on a vaccine that didn't pan out so there really wasn't any risk, at least financially speaking.

[foreverlomsak]

9 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"We will now aim to offer a jab to every adult by the end of July, helping us the most vulnerable sooner, and take further steps to ease some of the restrictions in place," Johnson said in a statement.  

Thailand will maybe start in June, that'll help the tourism in Thailand yes you've had your jab now come and try to get Covid from our unvaccinated population.

[Kadilo]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

The COVID infection and hospitalisation data from July onwards in the UK will be very interesting.

There is already data, albeit early days, to show the vaccine is having an effect. 

[ukrules]

5 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

There is already data, albeit early days, to show the vaccine is having an effect. 

Yes, I know. The full data is going to be very interesting - it's going to show the worlds future.

[7by7]

34 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

Take note Thailand.

The UK has a very similar population.

But far higher infection and death rates.

 

The UK 4.071,297 cases in total; Thailand 25,111 cases in total.

 

The UK 1782.91 deaths per million; Thailand 1.19 deaths per million.

 

See COVID-19 deaths worldwide per million population as of February 19, 2021, by country

[7by7]

Note this is just the first dose.

 

To repeat what I posted elsewhere:

 

As of Friday 19th Feb whilst 17,247,442 people have received their first dose, only 604,885 have received their second (Source HMG).

 

Advice from the manufacturers is that the second dose be given after 21 days or 28 days, depending on which vaccine is given. But in order to hit it's first dose targets the government has decided to extend that to twelve weeks. Up to four times the manufacturers recommendation, and twice the maximum recommended by WHO (Source).

 

I am neither a doctor nor a virologist, so have no idea how this delay in providing the second dose will effect people's immunity. But many health professionals have expressed concern over the policy: 

 

Covid-19 vaccines: to delay or not to delay second doses

 

Revisiting the UK’s strategy for delaying the second dose of the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine

[Sujo]

I need to retroactively apply for the discovery show ALONE for 2020.

 

Would win it easily. Oh hindsight.

[RichardColeman]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

Thailand doesn't have the same financial resources as the UK so instead of gambling and potentially losing, they waited until some positive data was available

Not same resources ? or badly spent ?  Reminder they just bought 3 submarines ! 

[sandyf]

21 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

I've no idea why you think of it as a gamble. The UK government signed agreements guaranteeing that if and when the vaccines were available, they would receive the doses of vaccines that they would need. 

 

If a particular vaccine didn't prove successful then it would never be available to buy, so they would not have to pay anything.

 

There was no risk of losing any money on a vaccine that didn't pan out so there really wasn't any risk, at least financially speaking.

Obviously you are free to make your own interpretation.

How far on would the UK vaccine rollout be if all 7 vaccines they backed were still awaiting approval?

I often wonder how the rhetoric would pan out if the only vaccines available were Russian and Chinese.

[sandyf]

20 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Not same resources ? or badly spent ?  Reminder they just bought 3 submarines ! 

Obviously GDP means little to you.