LONDON – He has been nicknamed “V-Day” in Britain, reminiscent of the D-Day landing in France that marked the beginning of the last impulse of World War II to defeat Nazi Germany.
A week after the UK was the first Western country to allow widespread use of a COVID-19 vaccine, it prepares to administer its first vaccines on Tuesday in its war on the virus.
These 800,000 doses will first pass to others over the age of 80 who are hospitalized or who already have outpatient appointments scheduled, as well as staff in nursing homes.
That is, the National Health Service tells the expecting public: do not call us, we will call them, only those who have been contacted through the NHS to arrange an appointment will get the hit.
Most others will have to wait until next year before having enough vaccines to expand the program.
“I don’t think other people are expecting anything in the next few days because the truth is . . . that for the big, big, vast majority of other people, this will be done in January, February and March,” Chris Hopson said. , NHS Supplier General Manager. ” And the only thing we don’t need other people to worry about is “Where’s my letter?”In December”.
Public fitness officials around the world are following Britain’s deployment as they prepare for the unprecedented task of vaccinating billions of people to end the pandemic that has killed more than 1. 5 million people worldwide. Although the UK has a well-developed distribution vaccination infrastructure, it is finished vaccinating teams such as schoolchildren or pregnant women, not the general population.
The UK is ahead of the allocation after UK regulators on 2 December gave emergency approval to the vaccine produced through the US drug manufacturer Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. U. S. and the European government are also reviewing the vaccine, as competing products evolved through the AMERICAN biotechnology company Moderna and a collaboration between Oxford University and drug manufacturer AstraZeneca.
On Saturday, Russia began vaccinating thousands of doctors, teachers and others at dozens of centers in Moscow with its Sputnik V vaccine. This program was noted because Russia legalized the use of Sputnik V last summer after being tested on only a few dozen people.
But the vaccine arrives early enough for the UK, which has more than 61,000 COVID-19-related deaths, more than any other country has reported in Europe. The UK has more than 1. 7 million cases.
The first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were delivered sunday to an organization of British hospitals.
The 800,000 doses are only a fraction of what is needed. The government targets more than 25 million people, or about 40% of the population, in the first phase of its immunization program, which prioritizes those at peak risk of the disease. .
After the over-80s and nursing home workers, the program will expand as the source increases, with the vaccine presenting itself more or less according to age groups, starting with the elderly.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on reports that Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and her husband, Prince Philip, 99, were vaccinated and the action was made public to show that there is nothing to fear.
“Our goal is absolutely for each and every member of the population, Your Majesty, of course, too,” Dr. June Raine, executive leader of the UK Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency.
In England, the vaccine will be delivered to 50 hospitals on the first wave of the programme, and more hospitals are expected to offer it as deployment accelerates. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are drawing up their own plans under the programme. Uk decided administration formula.
Logistics disorders are slowing the immediate deployment of the Pfizer vaccine because this effort will be a bloodless war: the vaccine will have to be kept at minus -70 degrees Celsius (minus -94 degrees Fahrenheit).
The vaccination program will be a “speed marathon,” said Professor Stephen Powis, medical director of the NHS of England.
The government is also focusing on large-scale distribution issues because the vaccine package comprises 975 doses and does not need to be wasted.
The UK agreed to purchase millions of doses from seven other producers. Governments around the world are entering into agreements with several developers to ensure that they will see the delivery of products that will in the end be approved for widespread use.
Dozens of members of the armed forces are building vaccination centres in the UK for what Health Secretary Matt Hancock has called “V-Day. “
His reference recalls the British effort of World War II and Winston Churchill’s patriotic appeals, such as his “V of Victoria” hand gesture.
Hancock even used rhetoric similar to Churchill’s after the vaccine was passed last week, saying, “This is a day to remember, frankly, in a year to forget.
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