Cases down, vaccinations up
At last some brighter news. The number of Britons who are infected with the virus is down to 22,195, a 41 per cent fall on last week. Although another 592 people have died having tested positive for Covid, this is one per cent lower than last Monday’s figure.
And an astonishing 6.6 million Britons have now been vaccinated against coronavirus – that’s one in ten of the UK population. This brings the proportion of Britons over the age of 80 who have had one of the Covid vaccines to 78.7 per cent.
The government – which has set a target of all four high risk groups to be vaccinated by mid-February – has now vaccinated 63 per cent of care home residents in England. But this still leaves 154,660 out of an estimated 420,000 residents waiting for their jabs. Vaccinating these high risk groups is essential as the latest ONS figures show that the median age of people dying having tested positive – or due to Covid – is still around 83 for men and 85 for women.
Figures from the Department of Health showed 220,249 first doses and 818 second doses were delivered on Sunday, down from the usual daily figure because of lack of staff. But the roll-out will pick up again this week with around 400,000 vaccines planned a day.
A fourth vaccine is due to join the UK’s growing arsenal, with the Janssen jab likely to be approved by the MHRA over the next few weeks. The government has ordered 30 million doses of the one-dose injection.
However, the slower rate of infections has not prompted any new decision over when schools can re-open again despite mounting pressure from a group of Tory MPs who are concerned about the impact closure is having on children’s education.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a point of stressing that opening up schools again just as the rate of infection is coming down and the vaccination roll-out is doing so well would be short-sighted. Hopes that schools could be open again before April’s Easter break look increasingly unlikely.
Which is why the government continues to encourage those eligible for vaccines to come forward. So did one newly wed “lockdown” couple today: Geoff Holland, 90, and 86-year-old wife Jenny – who married in August after meeting at the Town View independent living centre in Mansfield. They were vaccinated together today, and insisted that everyone who can should have the jab. Who says hope does not spring eternal?
Boris: vaccine shows Union benefits
Word has it that Boris Johnson plans a visit to Scotland this week. He would be right to do so. He needs to tackle head on the latest hysteria prompted by a poll at the weekend – it was billed as signalling the end of the Union, when in effect it’s neck and neck.
If he does visit, Johnson’s best line of attack is to stay strong, as he did today when responding to Nicola Sturgeon’s latest goading that he is “frightened of democracy.” A cheap shot against an 80 seat majority. But Johnson is not taking the bait – he put it well, from a Unionists perspective, when the SNP policy is to leave the UK’s successful vaccination programme:
“The whole UK is going through a pandemic. I think what the people of the UK want to see is everybody focusing on beating that pandemic, which we are, rolling out the vaccine, and getting ready to bounce back from that pandemic and have the strongest possible economic recovery. I think people also can see everywhere in the UK the visible benefits of our wonderful Union.”
And then the line you’ll hear a lot more of:
“A vaccine programme that is being rolled out by a National Health Service, a vaccine that was developed in labs in Oxford and is being administered by the British Army, so I think the strengths and advantages of the Union speak for themselves.”
Going Dutch
One Dutch city mayor warns his country is on the “way to civil war” after a weekend of rioting by anti-lockdown protestors across the Netherlands. Hundreds of youngsters – protesting against the latest curfew – in Eindhoven and Amsterdam were arrested by the police while similar riots took place Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark. See Walter Ellis below.
The rioters may be furious about curfews but EU leaders are even angrier. They are up in arms about the latest problems with getting delivery of its pre-paid €300 million Astra Zeneca vaccine supplies. The pharma giant says it cannot deliver the 80 million doses due by the end of March and can only supply 31 million doses. (The EU has yet to approve the vaccine.)
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides says the drop is “not acceptable,” and is demanding to know “which doses have been produced by AstraZeneca and where exactly so far and if or to whom they have been delivered.” Good luck with that.
Maggie Pagano,
Executive Editor