Vaccine: Dr Hilary says ‘I can’t believe how misinformed’ people are
Coronavirus vaccination has offered some tangible hope the pandemic could one day come to an end, as Britain secured thousands of doses from Pfizer in the US. Ministers also acquired emergency approval to roll it out, ironically thanks to the EU, as they used emergency legislation under those who abide by their rules. The advantage has allowed them to make significant headway before many other countries, giving thousands of people their first dose of the vaccine.
How many people have had the Covid vaccine?
Ministers said the UK’s health authorities secured 800,000 doses of the vaccine.
A 90-year-old grandmother named Margaret Keenan was the first to receive the vaccine in Coventry on Tuesday.
Another roughly 25 million people classed as vulnerable to the effects of the virus will follow in due course.
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Officials have formed hospital “hubs” across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland to administer jabs.
They have not yet disclosed the exact number of people who have received one yet, however.
The BBC received some vague confirmation from “senior NHS sources” earlier this week who revealed providers had carried out “thousands of vaccinations”.
The UK’s virus campaign will see 800,000 doses of the vaccine doled out, but will only fully vaccinate half the number of people.
Each person must receive two full doses to adapt immunity from the jab, which can take up to two weeks to develop.
The Pfizer vaccine requires a specific storage climate in temperatures of -70C.
These requirements could handicap the Government’s current distribution strategy, and coupled with impending and possible no-deal Brexit, mean the country doesn’t exit restrictions until mid-2021.
NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said people would need to remain vigilant in the “weeks and months” to come.
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He said: “It will take some months to complete the work as more vaccine supplies become available and until then we must not drop our guard.
“But if we all stay vigilant in the weeks and months ahead, we will be able to look back at this as a decisive turning point in the battle against the virus.”
If the vaccine works as advertised, the UK will need to build up herd immunity to find a way out of covid restrictions.
According to Oxford University’s Vaccine Knowledge Project, this would require nearly everyone to have received a jab.
Experts predict between 50 and 90 percent of people will need to take the vaccine to provide full protection.
But the project states 19 out of every 20 people would need to accept one for herd immunity.
Translated, this is roughly 95 percent of the population in the UK.
Providers will therefore need to push for vaccinating 63.35 million people in total.
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