More than 20 million in Britain get first COVID-19 vaccine dose

 

FILE PHOTO: A woman receives a dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine inside a bus modified into a mobile vaccination centre for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Thamesmead, London, Britain, February 14, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - More than 20 million people across the United Kingdom have now received their first COVID-19 vaccine shot, data showed on Sunday as the country made more progress with Europe's fastest vaccination programme.

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the milestone represented "a huge national achievement and he paid testament to the country's health, workers, volunteers and armed forces.

 

"I urge everyone to get the jab when called," Johnson said. "Every jab makes a difference in our battle against COVID."

 

Britain has suffered the highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe - it currently stands at 122,849 - and the heaviest economic shock among big rich countries, according to the headline measures of official data.

 

But the pace of its vaccination roll-out has raised the prospect of a gradual lifting of its current lockdown restrictions between now and the end of June.

 

On Sunday, finance minister Rishi Sunak promised to help the economy while the country remains under restrictions.

 

In a budget statement on Wednesday, he is expected to announce more borrowing on top of his almost 300 billion pounds ($418 billion) of COVID-19 spending and tax cuts.

 

 

More than 20 million people across the United Kingdom have now received a COVID-19 shot, Britain's health minister, Matt Hancock, said on Sunday. Emer McCarthy reports.

 

Official data showed a total of 20.09 million people in Britain have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and almost 800,000 have received a second dose.

 

Last week, Britain said more than one in three adults had received their first vaccination.

 

Britain also reported on Sunday a further 6,035 cases within the previous 24 hours, and 144 more deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

 

The latest figures meant cases over the past seven days were down 21.2% compared with the previous seven-day period of Feb. 15-21, and deaths were down 33.5%.

 

(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Jane Merriman and Susan Fenton)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-01

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

And that boys and girls is the difference between a 1st world country and Thailand

Well done UK, good comeback after suffering the highest death toll. I wonder how many side effects there were on those 20 million probably not too much. I doubt it will convince the anti vaxers. 

 

I mean soon the UK will have its population safe from Covid, cant be worse then the 122k deaths. Yet anti vaxers still keep to their strange theories. 

When the going gets tough, the tough get going, or something to that effect. I must say I was quite impressed when my 90 year old Dad got a shot the same day as the Queen - egalitarian or what?.The Brits have a history of being slow off the mark, being a bit reactive rather than proactive by nature, but when they do eventually get their act together they can be quite impressive.

2 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

And that boys and girls is the difference between a 1st world country and Thailand

I dont agree I think Thailand has done extremely well during this pandemic. so no i cant agree with you there

10 minutes ago, Happyman567 said:

I dont agree I think Thailand has done extremely well during this pandemic. so no i cant agree with you there

If you read the report it is about vaccinations - and Thailand has failed on that score !

3 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

And that boys and girls is the difference between a 1st world country and Thailand

Indeed - there's a ginormous difference between 122,000 deaths and 82 so I'm perhaps not so keen on living in the 1st world!

4 minutes ago, George Aylesham said:

Indeed - there's a ginormous difference between 122,000 deaths and 82 so I'm perhaps not so keen on living in the 1st world!

Well the UK exaggerated their numbers and Thailand downplayed theirs so the truth is somewhere in between. If the UK had done the same number of tests as Thailand their numbers would have probably been similar.

 

In terms of vaccination rollout, the UK is doing a fantastic job and Thailand is stumbling from one embarrassing cockup to the next.

18 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Well the UK exaggerated their numbers and Thailand downplayed theirs so the truth is somewhere in between. If the UK had done the same number of tests as Thailand their numbers would have probably been similar.

 

In terms of vaccination rollout, the UK is doing a fantastic job and Thailand is stumbling from one embarrassing cockup to the next.

 

And if Thailand had done the same number of tests, and used the same registration criteria as the UK, the figures would show 122k deaths from Covid in Thailand? I doubt it.

 

The vaccination programme is going well in the UK. Let's hope that it continues, and that Thailand can get things sorted out.

34 minutes ago, RayC said:

 

And if Thailand had done the same number of tests, and used the same registration criteria as the UK, the figures would show 122k deaths from Covid in Thailand? I doubt it.

 

The vaccination programme is going well in the UK. Let's hope that it continues, and that Thailand can get things sorted out.

I doubt it as well. But we'll never know.

 

Should someone who dies of another illness such as cancer and then posthumously tests positive for C19 be included? Probably not, but that's what was happening in the UK.

 

Like I said, the truth lies somewhere in between.

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

Well the UK exaggerated their numbers and Thailand downplayed theirs so the truth is somewhere in between. If the UK had done the same number of tests as Thailand their numbers would have probably been similar.

 

In terms of vaccination rollout, the UK is doing a fantastic job and Thailand is stumbling from one embarrassing cockup to the next.

 

How has Thailand cocked it up?

 

We all know Thailand's data isn't complete, however excess deaths can't be hidden. If the problem was anywhere near as bad as it is in the UK, we would know because all of the makeshift hospitals, empty buildings being used to store dead bodies, reports of thousands of people dying a day, lockdowns and restrictions, hospitals with no beds and ambulances have to cue up outside A&E. Oh wait, there haven't been any of these things in Thailand, but the UK has all of them!

 

With regards to the vaccine. Thailand doesn't need to be vaccinated until the west is. Households in the west are currently under so many various lockdowns/restrictions/financial burdens that going on holiday right now is just not possible (or legal!). Those restrictions won't be lifted until you're all vaccinated.

 

So Thailand needs to vaccinate it's population right now for what? There is very little covid here now so the massive costs of importing expensive vaccines such as the Moderna and Phizer oferings are not neccessary. We've saved a sh-t ton of cash. Tourists can't come to the country anyway, so why bother vaccinating the entire population. Thailand is manufacturing the Astra vaccine here now, and has millions of doses in production. I'm sure that by the time the west is vaccinated, Thailand will be too. It's being made here after all! So have they been making a pigs ear of things, or have they actually done alright?

6 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Thailand doesn't need to be vaccinated until the west is

 

would you be keen on buying up my beer bar on walking st ? 

3 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

 

How has Thailand cocked it up?

 

We all know Thailand's data isn't complete, however excess deaths can't be hidden. If the problem was anywhere near as bad as it is in the UK, we would know because all of the makeshift hospitals, empty buildings being used to store dead bodies, reports of thousands of people dying a day, lockdowns and restrictions, hospitals with no beds and ambulances have to cue up outside A&E. Oh wait, there haven't been any of these things in Thailand, but the UK has all of them!

 

With regards to the vaccine. Thailand doesn't need to vaccinated until the west is. Households in the west are currently under so many various lockdowns/restrictions/financial burdens that going on holiday right now is just not possible (or legal!). Those restrictions won't be lifted until you're all vaccinated.

 

So Thailand needs to vaccinate it's population right now for what? There is very little covid here now so the massive costs of importing expensive vaccines such as the Moderna and Phizer oferings are not neccessary. We've saved a sh-t ton of cash. Tourists can't come to the country anyway, so why bother vaccinating the entire population. Thailand is manufacturing the Astra vaccine here now, and has millions of doses in production. I'm sure that by the time the west is vaccinated, Thailand will be too. It's being made here after all! So have they been making a pigs ear of things, or have they actually done alright?

Nonsense. Thailand burns bodies fairly quickly after death. Let' say there were extra 100,000 deaths just as an arbitrary example (I'm not saying there were 100,000 it's an example). There are 40,000 temples in Thailand so that's less than 3 bodies per temple. So since January 2020 that's one body per temple every 4 months. They wouldn't be stacking up at all. 

 

Thailand needs to vaccinate because people will still get into Thailand with Covid even in 2022. Burmese sneaking over the border, VIP's who don't test, tourists who have been vaccinated but are carrying it but asymptomatic. The idea that Thailand doesn't have to do anything because the rest of the world will take care of it is ludicrous.

 

It's not just a case of producing or buying it. Injecting 70 million people is a huge task. They need to get started, and I mean properly started not a few fake jabs for politicians, like at least a million people per week. 

1 minute ago, mr mr said:

 

would you be keen on buying up my beer bar on walking st ? 

What does that have to do with it? Tourists can't come here and don't have the money to come here. Even if all Thais were vaccinated right now, do you really think the gov are going to just let all these people come in with different covid mutations and possibly bring in a new infection resistant to it's vaccine? Even if it did let those people in, do you really think they're going to come? For instance, holidaying for citizens of most EU countries is forbidden, as is the UK. Do they have any money after losing their job?

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

I doubt it as well. But we'll never know.

 

Should someone who dies of another illness such as cancer and then posthumously tests positive for C19 be included? Probably not, but that's what was happening in the UK.

 

Like I said, the truth lies somewhere in between.

 

There's a lot of 'in between' between 82 and 122,000 deaths.

 

Truth is, up until the vaccination programme, the Thai government has made a pretty good job of managing this pandemic. Unfortunately, the exact opposite is true of the UK government.

1 hour ago, 2530Ubon said:

We all know Thailand's data isn't complete, however excess deaths can't be hidden.

Have not seen any data on Thailand's testing of every dead person, have you ? It is true they may not have excess deaths, but they could just as well of had 300,000 deaths and not tested the bodies before them being sent to the temple - ignorance is bliss and all that. The UK recently said that nobody was getting and dying of flu - BUT they could have died of covid, so there would be no jump in flu deaths and the normal number of deaths in flu season would be seen in the old and infirm.

 

Seems quite obvious that when Thailand DOES do a testing blitz they find masses.

8 hours ago, robblok said:

Well done UK, good comeback after suffering the highest death toll. I wonder how many side effects there were on those 20 million probably not too much. I doubt it will convince the anti vaxers. 

 

I mean soon the UK will have its population safe from Covid, cant be worse then the 122k deaths. Yet anti vaxers still keep to their strange theories. 

There should be a review asap in the UK of the 120k certificates alleging death from covid. Listening to LBC yesterday it appears that number is vastly overstated. 

A post with a trolling meme has been removed.  It's a discussion forum.  

 

Although the situation in Thailand is of interest to most, the topic is about the UK.  Comparisons are permitted, but stay on topic.  

 

17 hours ago, robblok said:

Well done UK, good comeback after suffering the highest death toll. I wonder how many side effects there were on those 20 million probably not too much. I doubt it will convince the anti vaxers. 

 

I mean soon the UK will have its population safe from Covid, cant be worse then the 122k deaths. Yet anti vaxers still keep to their strange theories. 

Still at least britain is vaccinating all its citizens,not like germany who are not vaccinating anyone over 65 and Belgium.not vaccinating anyone over 55 according to posters on here,one way to tackle a future pension crisis i suppose.

18 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

If you read the report it is about vaccinations - and Thailand has failed on that score !

 

Less urgency to vaccinate here, due to low fatalities, mask, temperature & hand-gel compliance.

 

No need for a Thai bash.

6 hours ago, kingdong said:

Still at least britain is vaccinating all its citizens,not like germany who are not vaccinating anyone over 65 and Belgium.not vaccinating anyone over 55 according to posters on here,one way to tackle a future pension crisis i suppose.

 

I said well done for all the vaccinations and made a reference to anti vaxers. Did not make any reference to other European countries besides that the UK had the worst death numbers so its a good comeback. My point was more aimed at the people who are against vaccination who said distaster would happen. Now with 20 million doses given not much damage otherwise it would be in the newspapers.

 

Not to big to admit that UK is handling vaccinations better then my country. Our death numbers ar far better but seems nobody is doing it really good. So after being one of the worst in the EU now they are one of the best vaccine wise evens out a bit.

20 hours ago, RayC said:

 

There's a lot of 'in between' between 82 and 122,000 deaths.

 

Truth is, up until the vaccination programme, the Thai government has made a pretty good job of managing this pandemic. Unfortunately, the exact opposite is true of the UK government.

Truth is, Thailand didn't really test so we don't know how well they did compared to the UK.

 

We certainly know how well the UK's vaccination program has gone though, it's been a world leading success. If Thailand wants to open up for tourism before the end of 2022 they better get their skates on and start vaccinating their population. Otherwise the vaccinated tourists and their unvaccinated children will start infecting unvaccinated Thais.

 

Plus, I'm not sure how many governments will want their population travelling to a country full of unvaccinated, untested people.