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LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Britain will become the first
country to roll out the low cost and easily transportable
AstraZeneca and Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine on
Monday, another step forward in the global response to the
pandemic.
Six hospitals in England will administer the first of around
530,000 doses Britain has ready. The programme will be expanded
to hundreds of other British sites in the coming days, and the
government hopes it will deliver tens of millions of doses
within months.
"This is a pivotal moment in our fight against this awful
virus and I hope it provides renewed hope to everybody that the
end of this pandemic is in sight," health minister Matt Hancock
said in a statement.
Last month Britain became the first country to use a
different vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech
, which has to be stored at very low temperatures.
Britain has so far injected around one million people with it.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper and can be stored
at fridge temperature, which makes it easier to transport and
use. India approved the vaccine on Sunday for emergency use.
Cases of COVID-19 in Britain have risen sharply in recent
weeks, fuelled by a new and more transmissible variant of the
virus. On Sunday there were nearly 55,000 new cases and in total
more than 75,000 people in the country have died with COVID-19
during the pandemic - the second highest toll in Europe.
While the government has been keen to hail its vaccination
programme as the furthest advanced in the world, it has had to
balance the optimism of that message and plead with the public
to stick to rules to prevent new infections.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that tougher
restrictions were likely to be introduced, even with millions of
citizens already living under the strictest tier of rules.
The spread of the variant virus has also forced the
government to change its approach to vaccination. Britain is now
prioritising getting a first dose of a vaccine to as many people
as possible over giving second doses. Delaying the distribution
of second shots should help stretch the supply.
The change of strategy has drawn criticism from some British
doctors.
(Reporting by William James; Editing by Susan Fenton)
