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LONDON, Feb 20 (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)
