LONDON (AP) – Britain on Tuesday began offering coronavirus vaccinations to anyone over the age of 45 after reaching their means of giving at least one dose to anyone over the age of 50 by mid-April.
Despite the good news, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the UK would inevitably see ‘more hospitalization and deaths’ as evidenced by the closure. On Monday, non-essential shops, hairdressers, gyms, restaurant patios and beer gardens reopened in England.
A few days before the April 15 deadline, the government said that everyone in the top priority groups – older than 50, health workers and people with serious medical conditions – had been given a break and that about 95% of them got one. More than 32 million people, more than 60% of the adults in the country, had a first chance and almost 15% of the adults received both doses.
Eligibility for vaccine was extended on Tuesday to people aged 45-49, the start of the second phase of the vaccination campaign. The government intends to give at least one dose to everyone over 18 by 31 July.
The move came the day after a number of lock-in rules were lifted in England for more than three months. Illuminated residents flock to areas such as the London Soho nightlife district, where tables are packed in narrow streets closed to traffic.
Officials in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are easing their restrictions in a slightly different way. Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced that a “stay-local” order will be lifted when people will be able to travel within the country and meet others outdoors.
Politicians and scientists have tried to temper the euphoria at the return of some freedoms with the warning that the virus still poses a major threat.
Britain had the deadliest outbreak of coronavirus in Europe, with more than 127,000 confirmed deaths. A combination of rapid vaccination and exclusion has sharply reduced infection and mortality rates.
“Of course, the vaccination program helped, but most of the work to reduce the disease was done through closure,” Johnson said.
‘If we unlock, the result will inevitably be that we will see more infection. Unfortunately, we will see more hospitalization and deaths. “People just have to understand it,” he said.
Several of Britain’s neighbors, including France, have introduced new keystones as virus cases increase.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of the health service organization NHS Providers, agrees that there are ‘good reasons to be cautious’ about the British pandemic orbit.
“We have to be very careful to assume that we are on a one-way, relentless, unavoidable path, as it is fantastic and that we can be normal again, because actually we need a new normal,” Hopson said.
The rate of vaccination from Britain has slowed in recent weeks, with the number of first doses falling sharply as the campaign focuses on delivering second shots.
Like many other countries, Britain also receives fewer doses than he had hoped for, in part due to India’s decision to stop exporting the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from its Serum Institute.
Britain has ordered 30 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, although British regulators have not yet approved its use. Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday it was delaying the vaccine’s launch in Europe amid a U.S. investigation into rare blood clots at some recipients.
The UK vaccination effort so far has used the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and one made by Pfizer-BioNTech. Britain has also ordered 17 million doses of a vaccine made by the American pharmaceutical company Moderna, with the first groups arriving earlier this month.
The doses of Moderna will be given mainly to younger people, following Britain’s decision last week not to give the AstraZeneca sample to individuals younger than 30, as evidence could be reinforced that it is related to rare blood clots.
Adam Finn, a member of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, said the vaccine campaign so far meant “we are halfway up.”
“We certainly have an important role to play in conveying the importance of the vaccination program to younger people,” Finn told Sky News. “They may be less afraid of this disease than older people were very understandable, but nonetheless I think people can be helped to understand that the eventual exit from this catastrophe involves building up immunity in the population.”
Health authorities are also concerned about new variants that are more resistant to vaccines. They are appealing to anyone living or working in two districts of South London to be tested after 44 cases of a strain first identified in South Africa were confirmed there.
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