UK becomes the first nation to roll out Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine:

UK: On Monday, the United Kingdom (UK) becomes the first nation to immunize people with the Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine. This moment will become one of the pivotal moments in the new year 2021, said the health secretary of the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the UK regulators approved the doses of the vaccines on December 30th. However, the vaccines will deliver to a small number of hospitals for the first few days for observation. After the process, a large number of bulk deals will arrive at medical practices, said England’s National Health Service (NHS). 

On the other side, the vaccine is easier to transport and to store as against other vaccines like Pfizer-BioNTech. The vaccine was approved by the UK government last month. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -70°C, making it very difficult to deliver.

Vaccine Distribution:

Whereas, thousands of NHS workers are being trained as vaccinators for the largest immunization program in history. The first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine given to Brian William Pinker, whose age is almost 82 years.

I am glad to receive the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine today. He considered as a vulnerable person because of receiving dialysis, said Pinker after receiving shots.

“The positive news on this early morning from Oxford vaccine starting to roll out. It is a great victory of British science that we’ve managed to get to where we are,” said Natt Hancock, UK Health Secretary on Monday.

On the other side, the vaccine rollout comes as a number of cases in the UK continue to surge. The country reported almost 50,000 new Covid-19 cases from last week. It is very difficult to control the situation in the UK.

The UK government decided to immunize everyone with the first dose and later the second shot given to the people after 12 weeks. Whereas the AstraZeneca decided to deliver millions of doses to middle-income countries. The company also said the delivery of vaccine is not for profits.

Besides, the vaccine is cheaper as against Pfizer and Moderna vaccines respectively. On the other side, the AstraZeneca vaccine is easier to transport and distribute across the world.