Britain has secured two million doses of Moderna Inc's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, to be available in Europe as early as the spring, the government said on Sunday, in addition to the 5 million doses it secured from the U.S. company two weeks ago.
Over 1,300 people in Britain were inaccurately informed they were infected with coronavirus after a laboratory error at the government's NHS Test and Trace system, the Department of Health and Social Care told Reuters on Saturday.
"It's a huge piece of mind just to be able to go home and be with my family, knowing that everything is safe," Fiona Waddell, a 19-year-old psychology student said before the centre opens for testing on Saturday.
Britain asked its regulator on Friday to assess AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine for a possible rollout, while the Philippines and Thailand secured millions of doses, giving the shot a vote of confidence after experts raised questions about trial data. The UK government, which has secured 100 million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, has targeted a rollout to begin before Christmas.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered England into a month-long lockdown in early November after coronavirus cases and deaths started to rise again, angering businesses and some of his own political party over the economic consequences.
"These figures ... shows that the vaccine in the right dosage can be up to 90% effective," he told Sky News, after an announcement from AstraZeneca. "We've got 100 million doses on order and should all that go well, the bulk of the rollout will be in the new year."
