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LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A COVID-19 booster in the autumn
and then annual vaccinations are very probable, Britain's
vaccine deployment minister said on Sunday as countries race to
administer injections in the face of new variants.
Britain has already provided nearly 11.5 million first doses
of COVID-19 vaccines and is on track to meet a target to
vaccinate everyone in the top most vulnerable groups by
mid-February.
Among coronavirus variants currently most concerning for
scientists and public health experts are the so-called British,
South African and Brazilian variants, which appear to spread
more swiftly than others.
"We see very much probably an annual or a booster in the
autumn and then an annual (vaccination), in the way we do with
flu vaccinations where you look at what variant of virus is
spreading around the world," Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC's Andrew
Marr Show.
AstraZeneca said on Saturday its vaccine developed
with the University of Oxford appeared to offer only limited
protection against mild disease caused by the South African
variant of COVID-19, based on early data from a trial.
The success of the UK's vaccine rollout is spurring debate
about how soon the government can ease broader lockdown
restrictions, amid plans to reopen schools in England in March.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Susan
Fenton)
