The latest report published by NHS shows until the Good Friday and before Easter holiday, the number of people who have received a first dose COVID-19 vaccination in the UK is totally 31,301,267. Also, 4,948,635 people received the second dose of the COVID-19 jab.
Later City News: Released data confirms that more than half of the adults in Britain have now received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. It is equal with 45.53% of total population.
The Guardian reported that The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which recommended delaying booster shots for three months in Britain, estimates that after three weeks the first Pfizer shot has an efficacy of about 90% and the first AstraZeneca shot has an efficacy of about 70%. This means that whatever your risk of getting symptomatic Covid beforehand, it is roughly 90% or 70% lower, depending on which shot you have. But these numbers must be treated with caution.
The second shot is intended to boost the immune response and make protection more long-lasting. Recent data from AstraZeneca’s US trial found that two shots of its vaccine achieved an efficacy of 76%, but the doses were given closer together than in Britain.
A recent Lancet study showed that when the booster was delayed by 12 weeks or more, efficacy rose to 81%, compared with 55% when the shots were given less than six weeks apart. The Pfizer booster pushes efficacy up to 95% when given three weeks after the first shot, but the impact of delaying the booster is unclear.
The vaccination programme in the UK began on 8 December 2020 with people receiving the vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, and people began receiving the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine from 4 January 2021. Both vaccines are given as 2 doses, at least 21 days apart, for a full vaccination course.
Initially the vaccines were prioritised to be administered to the over-80s, care home residents and workers, and NHS staff. The number of people who received each dose is reported.
In the United States vaccination surpassed a significant milestone Friday toward ending the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 100 million people having received at least one vaccine dose, according to data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. It is nearly three-quarters of Americans age 65 or older have received at least one shot, while 53.5% are fully vaccinated.
But it was not effective on epidemic, yet and the number of new coronaviruses cases continues to rise, fuelling fears that the country could be headed for a fourth wave.
According to CDC data, there were nearly 75,000 new infections Thursday, the most recorded since Feb. 24. The seven-day average for new cases is 63,727, up nearly 11,000 from two weeks ago.
Nine hundred seven more people died from the virus Thursday, bringing the U.S. death toll over 550,000, according to CDC numbers.
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