‘A really good start’ says UK minister as more than 130,000 people jabbed in first week of vaccinations

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More than 130,000 people have been administered the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine under the government’s vaccination programme, a week after it began in the United Kingdom on December 8, 2020.

Nadhim Zahawi, the British minister responsible for Covid-19 vaccine deployment, announced in a tweet that 137,897 people in total have been vaccinated in the first week of the programme, calling it as “a really good start.”

“A really good start to the vaccination program. It’s been 7 days and we have done: England:108,000 Wales: 7,897 Northern Ireland: 4,000. Scotland:18,000 U.K Total 137,897. That number will increase as we have operationalised hundreds of PCN (primary care networks),” Zahawi said in the tweet.

BBC News reported that the people taking the vaccines from General Practitioners and nurses in community clinics were not included in the numbers tweeted by Zahawi and close to 200 local vaccination clinics are anticipated to become operational by the weekend.

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However, vaccination for care homes residents in the UK, the highest priority group, has just begun, BBC says. The ultra-cold storage conditions required by the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine implies that storage in bulk would be difficult and the NHS is awaiting the guidelines for the safe transport of these vaccines to the care homes. As per the UK government’s vaccination plan, care home residents and workers followed by people above 80 years of age and frontline health and social care workers are the first in line to receive the Covid-19 vaccination.

Zahawi also mentioned that the number of people receiving the shots is expected to increase in the coming days as hundreds of Primary Care Networks (PCN) have been made operational and that the government would publish the weekly data of the number of vaccines administered from the following week to ensure transparency.

Also read: UK to set out tougher holiday guidance as Covid-19 cases soar

Close to 1.89 million people have been infected with Covid-19 and more than 64,000 people have died in the UK. The pandemic has put more than 34 million people under the toughest tier-3 lockdown in England, as per official data.

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