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Sadiq calls for a significant national drive to
vaccinate at least two million a week after the approval of the
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
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All options should be considered to accelerate
vaccinations, including utilising the skills and expertise of
the military, territorial army and trained
volunteers
The Mayor of London, , has called
on the Government to deliver an ambitious and extensive
nationwide plan to accelerate the rollout of COVID-19
vaccinations, after the UK’s independent regulator approved the
use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
The newly approved vaccine will be a gamechanger in the
fight against the virus and deliver a route out of the current
restrictions, and the Mayor is clear that the Government must set
an ambitious strategy with targets to get the vaccine supplies
urgently to those who need it most, and to ensure that the
country can beat the new strain of this virus and begin to
recover from the pandemic.
Early modelling of the impact of the new variant of the
virus by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
(LSHTM)* shows that two million vaccinations a week would
substantially reduce the burden of Covid-19. Sadiq believes this
should be a minimum target for the Government to help protect the
lives and livelihoods of people across the country – and that the
most vulnerable should continue to be the priority.
With the approval of another vaccine, of which the UK has
secured a significant supply, Sadiq is calling on Ministers to
ensure key workers also get the vaccine as soon as possible, and
that there is more transparency in the reporting of numbers to
ensure the vaccine roll-out is on track and no group misses out.
The Mayor has also written to the Prime Minister urging him to
use the full extent of his powers, with support from City Hall,
to ensure the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is rolled out swiftly
and systematically nationwide.
The recent study by the LSHTM concluded that it would be
necessary to accelerate greatly the vaccine roll-out to levels in
the region of two million doses per week in order to suppress the
more transmissible, mutated virus. To deliver this huge national
effort, the Government should consider every option to accelerate
the vaccine rollout, including utilising the skills and expertise
of the military, territorial army and trained volunteers.
With more than 100 million doses already secured for the UK
and more straightforward requirements for transportation and
storage, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will provide a crucial
boost to the deployment of vaccines to save lives and protect the
NHS, with the new jab becoming available in hospitals, GP
surgeries, care homes and large scale vaccination centres across
the entire country.
The Mayor of London, ,
said:
“I’m delighted that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been
approved for widespread use in the UK. This will be a gamechanger
in our fight against this awful and deadly virus.
“Vaccines are the light at the end of the tunnel and our
route out of this crisis. The swift roll-out of this new vaccine
will enable us to get back to seeing the people, and doing the
things, we miss and love.
“But with the spread of the new, more infectious variant
and large areas of our country under Tier 4 restrictions, it’s
vital that the Government acts swiftly and decisively, and
considers every option on the table to accelerate the vaccine
roll-out, including utilising the skills and expertise of the
military.
“We need Ministers to set an ambitious strategy and a
target to vaccinate at least two million people a week in order
to protect rapidly those most vulnerable to the virus, to lift
the burden on our NHS and to ensure the country can begin to
recover from this crisis.
“I know I can speak for Londoners when I say we are in awe
of the huge achievements and the tireless work of our scientists
and NHS staff this year, and we stand ready to support the
Herculean national effort required to deliver the vaccine to
those who need it most.
“I urge all those who are offered the vaccine to have it,
so that they become protected and can help protect other
Londoners and our NHS. I can assure you that, when it’s our turn,
my family and I will all be getting vaccinated.
“While we all pull together to deliver the largest
vaccination deployment the country has ever seen, I want to
remind Londoners that now is not the time to take our foot off
the gas – we must continue to follow the Tier 4 measures so that
we can help save as many lives as possible, support our NHS and
care system, and protect our economy and livelihoods.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
*The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine study
can be accessed here - https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/uk-novel-variant.html
The new preprint from the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine assesses the transmissibility of the new Covid
19 variant and whether it has a higher likelihood of leading to
hospitalisation or death compared to existing variants.
Based on early data, the preprint finds that the new
variant may be 50-74% more transmissible than pre-existing
variants of the disease. The researchers could not find any
evidence from the data so far that there is any increase in the
risk of hospitalisation or death for individuals who contract
this new variant.
From the scenarios they assessed, they conclude that a
substantially increased vaccine roll-out may be needed to prevent
COVID-19 deaths and hospitalisations in 2021 from exceeding those
in 2020.
