Britain is targeting a 24-hour, seven-day a week vaccination programme as soon as possible, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday, as he bids to step up the pace of the rollout and give shots to at-risk groups by mid-February. AstraZeneca executives said the company was on track to deliver 2 million doses a week before mid-February, and Johnson said the availability of more shots would be crucial to scaling up to around-the-clock service.
The UK is already under an indefinite national lockdown to curb the spread of the new variant, with nonessential shops, gyms and hairdressers closed, most people working from home and schools largely offering remote learning. But some are calling for even tougher measures. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tightened restrictions Wednesday, barring the consumption of alcohol outdoors and barring the public from going inside a business to collect takeaways.
The U.K. government has set a goal of delivering the first vaccine dose to everyone over 70, as well as frontline health care workers, nursing home residents and anyone whose health makes them especially vulnerable to the virus, by the middle of February. That’s more than 15 million people. Vaccinations will be given at hundreds of doctors’ offices and community pharmacies, 50 mass vaccination sites at convention centres and sports stadiums, as well as at 223 hospitals. Britain is already using COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca and has approved one made by Moderna, but that one is not expected to be delivered until spring. But the pace of vaccinations remains a constant source of discussion.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday that the National Health Service was looking at ways to reduce the strain on hospitals, including moving patients to hotels when appropriate. “We would only ever do that if it was clinically the right thing for somebody,” Hancock told Sky News. “In some cases, people need sit-down care, they don’t actually need to be in a hospital bed.”
