Many people were queueing up to get their Covid vaccine shots this morning as the UK ramped up its mass rollout of the vaccine.
Mass Covid Vaccinations Ramped Up
The large scale rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine began today while hospitals across the country face rising numbers of seriously ill patients. This is likely a direct result of the mutated strain of Covid, discovered in December, which was found to make the virus more transmissible.
The vaccines are being delivered to sites all over the UK after the Government promised to administer the vaccine to more than 13 million people in the top four priority groups by mid-February.
It comes as NHS trusts in London are set to be overrun as a result of the recent increase in Covid hospitalisations. Other trusts are rapidly converting normal wards into intensive care units (ICUs).
There have also been reports that a considerable number of people have not shown up for their jab slots for the Pfizer vaccine. Supposedly 70 people above the age of 80 have missed their scheduled vaccination appointment at a single surgery in Kent. A spokesperson said that fortunately other patients stepped in to take the vaccine in place of the designated patients so that no vaccine doses would go to waste.
The first community vaccinations against Covid with the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab are taking place in GP surgeries today and about 1,000 sites are expected to be delivering vaccines by the end of the week.
1.3 million people have already received either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, with an updated figure expected to be confirmed later today.