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Summary
- The UK health administration has already immunised more than 3.8 million people across the country.
- PM Boris Johnson has assured that the first four groups will receive the vaccine by the middle of February.
- The healthcare authorities will be setting up 10 mass inoculation centres in England this week.
The UK healthcare administration is all set to widen the ongoing vaccination programme in the next few weeks as the global Covid-19 inoculation drive attains pace following the approval of coronavirus shots developed by various vaccine makers. After vaccinating nearly 45 per cent of the people in the age group of 80 years or more, the authorities are now aiming to immunise millions of individuals in the age bracket of 70-80 years.
UK expands vaccine rollout
The decision of including people above the age of 70 years in the extant vaccination programme has been duly taken after the government prescribed a ban on quarantine-free travel into the UK. The UK healthcare administration is now focussing on vaccinating the vulnerable patients, the remaining frontline workers, and the people over the age of 70s.
Collectively, the UK health administration has already immunised more than 3.8 million people across the country including the clinically vulnerable patients, frontline workers, primarily NHS staff, people deployed in high infection areas and social care individuals, and people above the age of 80 years.
(Image source: ©Kalkine Group 2020)
Now, the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine will be administered to the next two focus groups in the upcoming weeks starting from Monday, 18 January. The authorities have been mandated by the government to vaccinate subsequent groups if the supply is adequate. PM Boris Johnson has recently assured that the first four priority groups will get the first dose of the vaccine by the middle of February.
As per the government, approximately 45 per cent in the age bracket of 80 years or more in England have received the first vaccine dose from the NHS. Notably, more than a million individuals falling in the corresponding age group have been invited to book their jabs at one of the vaccination centres.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Sunday said that the government intends to inoculate all the adults with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by September.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has separately said that the government is determined to offer the first dose of vaccine to all the clinically endangered patients, frontline workers and the next focus group.
In this regard, the healthcare authorities will be setting up 10 mass inoculation centres in England in this week. According to the government, all the eligible people are being contacted either by a text message or a letter for fixing the appointment for the vaccination.
In order to proceed with a large-scale vaccination target in the upcoming weeks, the NHS has configured various vaccination sites at GP surgeries, hospitals, and pharmacies across the widespread geography of the country alongside delivering the doses to the care home centres.
Also Read: AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) vaccine rollout gets extended to general practitioners
Brazil approves AstraZeneca vaccine
Meanwhile, Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency Anvisa has approved the coronavirus vaccine, jointly developed by Cambridge-based pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca Plc (LON: AZN) and the University of Oxford.
Alongside the AstraZeneca’s Covid shot, the regulator has also given the go-ahead to the coronavirus vaccine prepared by the Beijing-based drug developer Sinovac Biotech.
