UK ramps up coronavirus inoculations with Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine

Dialysis patient Brian Pinker became the very first person to be inoculated with the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in England on Jan. 4, 2021. (AP)

• Dialysis patient Brian Pinker very first person to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca jab
• UK has around 530,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on hand

LONDON: England’s National Health Service says a retired maintenance manager has received the first injection of the new coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and drug giant AstraZeneca.
Dialysis patient Brian Pinker became the very first person to be vaccinated by the chief nurse at Oxford University Hospital.
Pinker says he was so pleased to be getting the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday and that he can “now really look forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife Shirley later this year.”
The vaccine shots will be delivered at a small number of hospitals in Britain for the first few days before the supplies are sent to hundreds of doctors’ offices later in the week.
Officials say the UK has around 530,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on hand and is moving toward a goal of vaccinating 2 million people a week as soon as possible.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be administered at a small number of hospitals for the first few days so authorities can watch out for any adverse reactions. But hundreds of new vaccination sites — at both hospitals as well as local doctors’ offices — will launch this week, joining the more than 700 already in operation, NHS England said.
In a shift from practices in the US and elsewhere, Britain plans to give people second doses of both vaccines within 12 weeks of the first shot rather than within 21 days, to accelerate immunizations across as many people as quickly as possible.
The government’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said Sunday that decision is “the right thing to do for the nation as a whole.”
The UK is in the midst of an acute outbreak, recording more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day over the past six days. On Sunday, it notched up another 54,990 cases and 454 virus-related deaths to take its confirmed pandemic death toll total to 75,024.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that more onerous lockdown restrictions in England are likely in the coming weeks as the country reels from a coronavirus variant that has pushed infection rates to their highest recorded levels.
Johnson, though, insisted Sunday he has “no doubt” that schools are safe and urged parents to send their children back into the classroom in areas of England where they can. Unions representing teachers have called for schools to turn to remote learning for at least a couple of weeks more due to the variant, which officials have said is up to 70 percent more contagious.
“We are entirely reconciled to do what it takes to get the virus under control, that may involve tougher measures in the weeks ahead,” Johnson told the BBC.