People aged 50 and over in England are now being invited to book their appointment for their first dose of a Covid vaccine, among them Boris Johnson who has revealed he will “very shortly” be having the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.
After 13 European countries halted their rollout of the Oxford vaccine, the prime minister was keen to emphasise its safety, telling MPs he was “pleased” to soon be having it himself.
At prime minister’s questions, Johnson, 56, was asked about concerns among some EU countries. “I think perhaps the best thing I can say about the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine programme is that I finally got news that I’m going to have my own jab very shortly, I’m pleased to discover. It will certainly be Oxford/AstraZeneca that I will be having,” he said.
It is understood that Downing Street did not choose the vaccine – Johnson has previously said he would happily take any approved for UK use – but enquired in advance as to which one it would be in expectation of public interest.
More than 25 million people – almost half the UK’s adult population – have now received their first dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Oxford vaccine. This includes 95% of people aged 65 and over and 90% of people deemed clinically extremely vulnerable. More than 1.7 million people have had their second dose.
The over-50s make up the final group on the UK government’s priority list. Everybody in the top nine priority groups should be offered their second dose by mid-July, within 12 weeks of the first.
With extra supplies of the Oxford vaccine having arrived from India, the target of offering a first dose to everyone aged 50 and over by mid-April could be met weeks ahead of schedule. After that, the remainder of the adult population will be inoculated by age. All adults in the UK are expected to be offered their first dose by the end of July.
The UK government has moved this week to reassure people about the Oxford vaccine after a host of countries including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Norway and Ireland suspended their use of it over fears it could cause blood clots.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is investigating a handful of cases among recent recipients in some countries, and also a rarer condition called thrombocytopenia. It is expected to report its conclusions on Thursday.
Many in the UK believe the move by some countries was political and not based on evidence. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have said there is no evidence the jab causes blood clots. The WHO has advised that people should continue taking the shot, and countries including Canada have continued their programmes.
There is already some anecdotal evidence of people cancelling their appointments following the furore in Europe. One south London GP practice manager said the European suspensions had been a “real blow” to the practice’s efforts to win trust in the vaccine from the local community.
“We saw uptake build as getting vaccinated became more normalised and found that even patients showing high levels of hesitation were starting to come forward,” she said. But while previous clinics had seen very few no-shows, in the last two days about a third of patients had cancelled or failed to turn up.
“It’s been a massive blow and heartbreaking for the team. Some patients were visibly distressed. [The reports] did a lot of damage very quickly, and it’ll be slow to undo.”
A retired GP who has been volunteering at a vaccination clinic in Edinburgh for the last month said they had also seen rising worry around the Oxford jab. Some people had been anxious about the vaccine generally, but this had increased since Monday. “One man who arrived at the centre on Monday demanded the Pfizer vaccine, and when he was told it wasn’t available, said he wasn’t happy to have Oxford, so left without getting a vaccine at all.”
Jayne Johnson, who volunteers in a vaccine centre in Warwickshire, said people had turned up saying they did not want Oxford, they wanted Pfizer. “They seem to think they can just walk in and ask for Pfizer,” she said, although they did not mention the EU vaccine suspensions specifically. “Back in the early days, people wanted Oxford as opposed to Pfizer. Because it is British!”
