At the time, the UK was also in a more serious corona crisis and so it seemed urgent. Critics claimed that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was gambling and getting vaccines approved very quickly and he also put a lot of eggs in a basket by the middle of last year. huge amount of AstraZeneca / Oxford before it was clear whether that vaccine would work or not.
If it was a gamble, it turned out to be a good one: the British now have a big lead in vaccinations over the other European member states that had to wait for the European medicines agency EMA. Two: because of the big orders, the vaccines were too available. And three: the British prefer everyone to be vaccinated for the first time as soon as possible, the second vaccine will then come up to 12 weeks later. In this way you can also work faster, but with a little less protection, although this is often very good after a first injection.
On the other hand, the UK has so far only two vaccines in the battle: that of the American Pfizer and that of AstraZeneca. Moderna’s product has also been approved, but has yet to be delivered. Apparently there was also a third good decision when the British government – like the Belgian one – decided to continue with AstraZeneca, while most other countries had suspended vaccinations. Now the other EU Member States are also starting to work with that vaccine again, but precious days have been lost.
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