On January 4, 2021, 82-year-old Brian Pinker received the Oxford University / AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Sam Foster at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, South West England. –
STEVE PARSONS | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON – The UK has begun rolling out the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, which is a further step in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The country’s National Health Service (NHS) is the first in the world to deploy the sample after it was approved for use in the UK by the Regulatory Agency (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)) last week. According to the NHS, 82-year-old Brian Pinker is the first person in the world to receive the jerk on Monday morning.
The approval and deployment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is seen as a boon in the race against Covid-19, as it is cheaper than alternatives created by Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna.
In addition, unlike competing vaccines, it can be stored, transported, and handled under normal refrigeration conditions (2 to 8 degrees Celsius or 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months.
When the vaccine was approved last week, AstraZeneca said it was ‘targeting millions of doses in the first quarter’ as part of an agreement with the UK government to deliver up to 100 million doses in total.
As a two-dose vaccine, the agreement means that up to 50 million people in the UK, with a population of around 66 million, can be vaccinated.
In a statement on Monday, the British government said there were now more than half a million doses available “with ten million more to be delivered in the coming weeks and months once groups have been monitored by the MHRA”.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine contributes to a Covid-19 vaccination program already launched by Britain in December, when it began rolling out the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. According to the government, more than a million people in the UK have already been vaccinated with the Pfizer shot. It said on Monday that more than 730 vaccination sites have been established in the UK and that hundreds more will open this week.
As with the Pfizer vaccine, the Oxford-AstraZeneca survey will first be rolled out to priority groups, including residents and care staff, people over 80 and health and care workers, then to the rest of the population in order of age and risk, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
‘Central moment’
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said ‘this is an important moment in our fight against this horrific virus and I hope it offers renewed hope to all that the end of this pandemic is in sight’.
The introduction of another vaccine could not be fast enough for the UK, which is struggling with a surge of infections, mainly attributed to a mutation of the virus that makes it easier to spread. The UK has now recorded more than 2.6 million cases of the virus and so far more than 75,000 deaths, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that more restrictions on public life are likely as Covid-19 cases continue to rise.
Hancock told Sky News on Monday that the UK could not roll out the vaccine faster than the offer allowed, but experts agreed that the UK should step up its vaccination program as soon as possible. Last week, a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine concluded that Britain should vaccinate two million people a week to avoid a third wave of coronavirus outbreaks.
The Times newspaper anonymously quoted an “important member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca team” on Saturday as saying the drugmaker would increase production so that mid-million two million samples are made every week.
The target is achievable but challenging, according to Dr Andrew Freedman, a reader in infectious diseases at Cardiff University School of Medicine. He told CNBC on Monday that the speed of the roll-out depends on “the availability of the vaccine, the vaccine production, but also its distribution and the establishment of new vaccination centers and the recruitment of new vaccines.”
“It’s a target, but it’s realistic and I think it can be achieved by the end of the month,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe”.
Those at greatest risk will first be vaccinated with shots initially delivered to hospitals before the bulk of the stock is sent to hundreds of doctors’ surgeries and care facilities later in the week.
The MHRA, the Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee (JCVI) and the UK’s four chief medical officers, somewhat controversially, have agreed to close the gap between the first and second doses of coronavirus vaccines now being given to the public. According to them, the change in strategy made it possible to protect most people in the shortest possible time.
The British Medical Association has said that the decision to delay the follow-up dose of the Pfizer vaccine and cancel the appointments for patients who already want to take the second dose is unfair to thousands of patients at serious risk. However, experts like Freedman have said that a longer gap between doses for a vaccine such as the Oxford-AstraZeneca candidate could increase the effectiveness of the jab.
The government last week insisted that the “priority should be to give as many people in risk groups as possible their first dose, rather than giving the required two doses in a short time.”
“Everyone will still receive their second dose and it will be within twelve weeks after their first dose. The second dose completes the course and is important for long-term protection,” he said.