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* UK first to roll out AstraZeneca vaccine
* PM Johnson set to announce tougher restrictions
* 82-year-old dialysis patient is first to get shot
* UK hails British scientific 'triumph'
* Concerns grow over South African variant
(Combines stories)
By Alistair Smout and Guy Faulconbridge
LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Britain became the first country
to vaccinate its population with Oxford University and
AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot on Monday, but Prime
Minister Boris Johnson was set to tighten restrictions in
England in an bid to slow the spread of cases.
Johnson will make a televised address at 8 p.m. (2000 GMT)
and parliament will be recalled on Wednesday.
"The spread of the new variant of COVID-19 has led to
rapidly escalating case numbers across the country," a spokesman
from the prime minister's office said.
"The prime minister is clear that further steps must now be
taken to arrest this rise and to protect the NHS (National
Health Service) and save lives. He will set those out this
evening."
Against the ominous backdrop of record daily cases, Britain
touted a scientific "triumph" as dialysis patient Brian Pinker,
82, became the first person to get the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot
outside of a trial.
"I am so pleased to be getting the COVID vaccine today and
really proud that it is one that was invented in Oxford," said
Pinker, a retired maintenance manager, just a few hundred metres
from where the vaccine was developed.
Britain is grappling with the world's sixth highest death
toll and one of the worst economic hits from the COVID-19
crisis. More than 75,000 people in the United Kingdom have died
from COVID-19 within 28 days of a positive test.
It was the first country to roll out the vaccine developed
by Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech almost a
month ago, and is prioritising getting a first dose of vaccines
to as many people as possible over giving second doses.
Some experts say they are worried about such an approach.
Two new variants of the coronavirus are complicating the
COVID-19 response and Britain has seen a resurgence in cases to
new daily highs.
UK scientists have expressed concern that COVID-19 vaccines
being rolled out may not be able to protect against a new
variant of the coronavirus that emerged in South Africa and has
spread internationally.
Johnson warned of "tough, tough weeks" ahead.
"If you look at the numbers, there's no question that we're
going to have to take tougher measures," Johnson said on a visit
to see health workers receiving the Oxford vaccine.
RESTRICTIONS GETTING TOUGHER
ITV News said the toughest Tier 4 level of restrictions,
which currently cover much of England, will be imposed across
the country and schools would be closed.
Moving ahead of Johnson, Scottish First Minister Nicola
Sturgeon imposed the most stringent lockdown since last spring.
"It is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about
the situation that we face now than I have been at any time
since March," she said.
Britain has administered more than a million COVID-19
vaccines - more than the rest of Europe put together, Health
Secretary Matt Hancock said, declaring it a triumph of British
science.
Johnson's government has secured 100 million doses of the
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine which can be stored at fridge
temperatures between two to eight degrees, making it easier to
distribute than the Pfizer shot.
Six hospitals in England are administering the first of
around 530,000 doses Britain has ready. The programme will be
expanded to hundreds of other British sites in coming days, and
the government hopes it will deliver tens of millions of doses
within months.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it
had administered 4.2 million first doses of COVID-19 vaccines as
of Saturday morning and distributed 13.07 million doses.
More than a tenth of Israel's population have had a vaccine
and it is now administering more than 150,000 doses a day.
Germany and Denmark are looking into the possibility of
delaying administering a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to
make scarce supplies go further, after a similar move by
Britain.
Britain became the first Western country to approve and roll
out a COVID-19 vaccine, although it is behind Russia and China
which have been inoculating their citizens for months.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Writing by William
James, Guy Faulconbridge and Alistair Smout; Editing by Kate
Holton, Nick Macfie and Mike Collett-White)
