London: U.K. health minister Matt Hancock was surrounded by cameras as he visited a family doctors’ practice in north London to hail the rollout of a new coronavirus vaccine. Unfortunately for him, the clinic hadn’t yet received its promised delivery of shots.
“We were expecting our first AstraZeneca 400 today,” Dr Ammara Hughes from the Bloomsbury Surgery told Sky News. “But we’ve had a push-back for 24 hours so we’re now getting that delivery tomorrow.”
The encounter, which played out on national TV Thursday, neatly encapsulated the logistical issues facing the government’s highly ambitious vaccine rollout. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to deliver 15 million shots to the most vulnerable people in the U.K. by the middle of February “just five weeks away” and said everyone will be within 10 miles of their nearest vaccination center.
‘Fill finish’ work taking place at Wockhardt UK in Wrexham. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
Most of the sprawling industrial estate on the edge of Wrexham was quiet. There was little sign of activity at the engineering firms or in the self-storage units or greasy spoon cafes.
But behind the wire fence of the Wockhardt UK plant, the laboratories and production lines were buzzing as scores of staff worked on the final part of the manufacture of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
“It’s a very exciting day,” said Ravi Limaye, the managing director. “We are very pleased the moment has finally arrived. It’s really a matter of pride for all of us that we will now move forward at pace with the manufacturing and get doses out into the vaccination centres. This is a moment in history.”
Experts yesterday said the new virus variant was more transmissible because those who contracted it produced more of the infection in their nose and mouth.
This means they will breathe more into the air, according to Professor Robert Dingwall, of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group [NERVTAG}.
Prof Dingwall said: You are producing more of the infection in the upper respiratory tract and the virus is reproducing faster so there is more to go into the air. It also has properties that make it easier to take over cells.
Virologist Professor Lawrence Young claimed the new variant is spreading so fast because it is stickier and binds more easily to receptor cells.