UK’s National Health Service (NHS) on Monday began rolling out the Oxford University vaccine developed by AstraZeneca as protection against COVID-19, with an 82-year-old Oxford-born dialysis patient becoming the first to receive the new jab.
Brian Pinker is among the first to be vaccinated by the Oxford University Hospital’s (OUH) chief nurse, hailed as a major milestone in the phased vaccination programme being undertaken by the NHS as the Oxford jab became the second vaccine approved for rollout after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The retired maintenance manager got the jab at 7:30 GMT from nurse Sam Foster at Oxford’s Churchill Hospital. More than half a million doses of the vaccine are ready for use on Monday.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC Breakfast the Oxford vaccine rollout was a “pivotal moment” in the fight against coronavirus, saying: “It’s going to be a tough few weeks ahead, but this is the way out”. The health Secretary described it as a “pivotal moment” in the UK’s fight against the virus, as vaccines will help curb infections and ultimately allow restrictions to be lifted. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said regional restrictions in England are “probably about to get tougher” as the UK struggles to control a new, fast-spreading variant of the virus.
On Sunday more than 50,000 new confirmed Covid cases were recorded in the UK for the sixth day running, prompting Labour to call for a third national lockdown in England. Northern Ireland and Wales currently have their own lockdowns in place, while Scottish cabinet ministers will meet later to consider further measures.
The rollout comes as rows continue over whether pupils should return to school with the current high levels of Covid infections. Six hospital trusts – in Oxford, London, Sussex, Lancashire and Warwickshire – are beginning to administer the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab on Monday, with 530,000 doses ready for use. Most other available doses will be sent to hundreds of GP-led services and care homes across the UK later in the week, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
Music teacher and father-of-three Trevor Cowlett, 88, and Prof Andrew Pollard, a pediatrician working at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, were also among the first to be vaccinated. As the recent rise in Covid cases puts increased pressure on the NHS, the UK has accelerated its vaccination rollout by planning to give both doses of the vaccine 12 weeks apart, having initially planned to leave 21 days between jabs.
The UK’s chief medical officers have defended the delay to second doses, saying getting more people
vaccinated with the first jab “is much more preferable”.
