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Britain’s vaccine rollout is limited by a”lumpy” manufacturing process with manufacturing changes by Pfizer and a delay by AstraZeneca that could result in brief supply disruption, Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Monday.
The United Kingdom, which has the world’s fifth worst official COVID-19 death toll, is rushing to be one of the first major countries to vaccinate its inhabitants – seen as the best way to exit the pandemic and get the economy going again.
The United Kingdom has vaccinated 3,857,266 people who have a first dose and 449,736 with another dose.
Zahawi told LBC radio that the United Kingdom was hoping for two million vaccines a week from AstraZeneca but that those amounts won’t be reached until mid February. Still, he said the UK was on course to reach its rollout targets.
“It has been a bit lumpy,” Zahawi said of vaccine manufacture.
“There is bound to be delays. Any new production process has challenges at the start, it’s lumpy, it starts to stabilise and get better and better week in, week out,” Zahawi told the BBC.
“The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is a messenger RNA chemical, difficult chemical to manufacture, very very challenging but they are doing very well, they want to do more which is why they’re reconfiguring to add volume to the whole world,” Zahawi said.
“That could delay supply but I’m convinced we can meet our target.”
VACCINE HOPES
Bulk COVID-19 vaccines are seen as the best way to leave the pandemic that has killed over 2 million people, wiped out trillions of dollars in economic output and upended normal life for people throughout the world.
The United Kingdom is vaccinating 140 people per minute against COVID-19 typically.
“It is going well, we are vaccinating on average 140 people, that is first jab, literally a minute. That is the typical so some areas are doing better,” Zahawi told Sky.
Britain is now rolling out the vaccine to the most vulnerable first, starting with those who are in care homes or over 80 years of age. In areas where a vast majority of over 80s are offered a vaccine, letters are going out to the over 70s and people that are clinically extremely vulnerable.
Zahawi said a 24-hour vaccine that would begin to be piloted in London at the end of the month.
Essential workers such as teachers, the police and shop assistants could move to the top of the list to get a vaccine once all those over 50 have been offered a shot, Zahawi said.
“Teachers, police officers, shop employees, those who through no fault of their own other than the work they do may come into contact with the virus at much greater volume, should be high in the list,” Zahawi informed Times Radio.
