Ooops..a correction on my part. We’ve secured access to 367 million doses apparently, though so far only 3 of the 7 vaccines ordered have been approved. 100 million are of the AstraZeneca one, 40 million Pfizer and 17 million Modena. So the orders for the Oxford one have certainly enabled us to be in the position we are...and without it we’d only be able vaccinate half the population. Though of course other vaccines are likely to be approved over the coming weeks I guess? And no one has enough to vaccinate their whole population without the AZ one, so we’re in a similar position to the rest of the world in that respect.
Only part of the success of the UKs rollout when compared to our neighbours is down to how much we ordered and how early though as far as I can see. The biggest factor must be the shift from second dose after 2 or 3 weeks to after 12 weeks. We’ve also got a more efficient network (some 1,500 locations already) of vaccination centres, and, believe it or not, a population more willing to be vaccinated. Take France as a comparison - you need a consultation with a doctor 5 days before you’re given the vaccine. And around half the population are against being vaccinated anyway. Germany doesn’t have enough vaccine to go round, and many vaccination centres aren’t yet open. Only a quarter of the population are anti vax though!
The press, and the Labour Party, will say that we should be quicker, and vaccinating 24/7. But I suspect that’ll just mean that the rate of vaccination (already third best in the world let’s not forget) will get out of synch with the rate at which the vaccine is delivered, and we’d come to a crashing halt when supplies ran out leading to failure as the second dose ends up far later than intended. Basic supply chain stuff... I’m also not sure there’s enough appetite for people to be vaccinated 24/7. Of course they’ll say they do when asked. But I’d put money on if it was organised that there’d be a huge number of no-shows and wasted vaccine. No shows are already causing some waste, but a lot of its it’s being mopped up by offering the vaccine to non-qualifying (per the plan) but available candidates. The opportunity to do that at 2 in the morning is somewhat limited ;)
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