U.K. rolls out COVID-19 vaccine to public

 

• British health authorities have begun rolling out the first doses of a widely tested and reviewed COVID-19 vaccine, starting a global immunization program, reports The Washington Post.
• The first shot came on Tuesday morning at one of a network of hospital hubs where the initial phase of the U.K. program will be rolled out on what has been dubbed “V-Day.”
• The first recipient was grandmother Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week. She received the shot at University Hospital Coventry at 6:31 a.m. (U.K. time, 07.31 CET). Among those older Britons scheduled to get vaccinated is Hari Shukla, of Newcastle.
• British health authorities have begun rolling out the first doses of a widely tested and reviewed COVID-19 vaccine, starting a global immunization program, reports The Washington Post.
• The first shot came on Tuesday morning at one of a network of hospital hubs where the initial phase of the U.K. program will be rolled out on what has been dubbed “V-Day.”
• The first recipient was grandmother Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week. She received the shot at University Hospital Coventry at 6:31 a.m. (U.K. time, 07.31 CET). Among those older Britons scheduled to get vaccinated is Hari Shukla, of Newcastle.
• The first 800,000 doses are going to people over 80 who are either hospitalised or already have outpatient appointments scheduled, along with nursing home workers.
• Most of the people will have to wait until next year to be dosed as at present only those who are most at risk will be vaccinated.
• The U.K. is getting a head start on the project after British regulators on Dec. 2 gave emergency nod to the vaccine developed by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Germany’s BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX).
• U.S. and European Union authorities are also reviewing the vaccine, alongside rival products developed by Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), and a collaboration between Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN).
• The first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were delivered to a selected group of U.K. hospitals on Sunday.
• In England, the vaccine will be delivered at 50 hospital hubs in the first wave of the program. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are making their own plans under the U.K.’s system of devolved administration.
• On Saturday, Russia began vaccinating thousands of doctors, teachers and others at dozens of centers in Moscow with its Sputnik V vaccine.
• COVID-19 vaccine-related names: Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Merck (NYSE:MRK), Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), Dynavax (NASDAQ:DVAX), Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX).
• Previously: U.K. could roll out vaccines from Astra-Oxford, Pfizer in December (Nov. 24)
• https://seekingalpha.com/news/3642355-u-k-rolls-out-covidminus-19-vaccine-to-public-report