U.K. aims to give 1st COVID-19 shot to all adults by September
The U.K. govern- LONDON — ment plans to offer a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to every adult by September as the nation’s health care system battles the worst crisis in its 72-year-history.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Sunday that the government will soon begin a trial of round the clock injec- tions at some locations as it continues to add more vaccination sites to increase the pace of delivery. The National Health Service opened a mass vaccination center on Satur- day at the historic Salisbury Cathedral, where injections were accompanied by organ music.
“Our target is by Septem- ber to have offered all the adult population a first dose,” he told Sky News. “If we can do it faster than that, great, but that’s the road map.”
Britain has more than 51 million adults in its population of 67.5 million people.
The ambitious vaccination program comes amid crushing pressures on the National Health Service. Already beleaguered hospitals are admit- ting another COVID-19 patient every 30 seconds, putting the service in its most precarious situation ever, said Simon Stevens, chief execu- tive of NHS England.
“The facts are very clear and I’m not going to sugar- coat them, hospitals are under extreme pressure and staff are under extreme pressure,” he told the BBC. “Since Christmas Day we’ve seen another 15,000 increase in the in-patients in hospitals across England. That’s the equivalent of filling 30 hospitals full of coronavi- rus patients.”
Britain’s health care system is staggering as doctors and nurses battle a more contagious variant of the corona- virus coupled with cold, wet winter weather that drives people inside, where infections spread more easily.
The surge in infections has pushed the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 to a record 37,475, more than 73% higher than during the first peak of the pandemic in April.