These are 60 million doses from the American Moderna and 54 million from the German-American Pfizer / BioNTech.
The British Government announced this Thursday that it has signed new contracts to purchase 114 million additional doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for 2022 and 2023, in order to guarantee its booster program before the appearance of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The Ministry of Health specifies in a statement that the game will include 60 million doses of the American Moderna and 54 million of the German-American Pfizer / BioNTech.
The total doses ordered to date by the UK, including some that do not yet have regulatory approval, is 453.5 million, with six different companies, the government said.
“It is a national mission, and our best weapon to combat this virus and its variants is to get an injection in the arm,” said the Minister of Health, Sajid Javid, who urges the population to “go to your appointment” for the booster shot.
This announcement is made when the World Health Organization (WHO) and much of the scientific community call on rich countries to allocate a higher proportion of vaccines to developing states, in part to stop the emergence of variants of the virus such as omicron, initially detected in South Africa, where less than 25% of the population is vaccinated.
The UK pledged at the G7 summit last June to donate 100 million doses abroad, Of which less than twelve million have been distributed so far, although the Executive ensures that it will send the total amount before mid-2022.
Within this country, more than 116 million doses have already been administered, between first and second doses, and booster doses, according to the latest official data.
In its note, Health explains that the new contracts signed include “access to modified vaccines if necessary to combat the omicron variant”, which could reduce the effectiveness of current preparations.
The 114 million additional doses announced are in addition to 35 million Pfizer / BioNTech doses ordered in August, to be delivered by the end of next year, 60 million from Novavax and 7.5 million from GSK / Sanofi also expected in 2022 , once they get regulatory approval.
For the booster doses, which will be extended in the United Kingdom to all those over 18 years of age, the Executive has opted, on the advice of its advisers, for mRNA-type vaccines, such as those from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, different from the from AstraZeneca, as studies show that they are well tolerated and offer greater protection. (I)
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