First jab expected Tuesday as UK deploys Covid-19 vaccine

The UK is gearing up to deploy its first Covid-19 vaccine with plans to provide the shot at more than 1,000 centres across the country over the coming weeks with the first jab expected to be given on Tuesday,, as southern California locked down 20 million people to ease the burden on hospitals struggling with record cases.

The vaccine, created by Pfizer and BioNTech, has arrived at secure locations in the UK from Belgium, the Department of Health and Social Care said on Sunday. Following quality checks to ensure the jabs have been kept at the correct temperature, the shots will be made available to 50 hospital hubs around the country, before being distributed to doctor-run vaccination centres that will administer the jabs.

The UK will become the first Western country to deploy a Covid-19 vaccine after regulators approved the Pfizer-BioNTech shot last Wednesday. In trials, the vaccine was shown to have around 95 per cent efficacy.

The government has bought 40 million doses from the companies, enough to inoculate 20 million people with the two-dose regimen. The shots will be given in order of priority, with the first vaccines going to those in care homes, including workers, and people over 80 years old.

A survey in Britain last month showed that almost two-thirds of people would get vaccinated for the disease. But many have expressed unease at the speed at which companies have developed the drugs to tackle it, and about possible side effects.

Some also believe unfounded claims spread over the internet, including that the pandemic was fabricated by governments to control people or that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wanted to use vaccines to insert traceable microchips into people.

Famous figures in British life have stepped forward to say that they would receive the vaccine to encourage the public to follow suit.