UK has vaccinated 137,897 people so far against Covid, minister says

Nearly 140,000 people in the United Kingdom have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in the first week of roll-out of the shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, the minister in charge of deployment of the vaccine said on Wednesday.

“A really good start to the vaccination program. It’s been 7 days and we have done: England: 108,000, Wales: 7,897, Northern Ireland: 4,000, Scotland: 18,000. U.K Total 137,897,” Nadhim Zahawi said in a tweet.

“That number will increase as we have operationalised hundreds of PCN (primary care networks),” he said.

Britain hailed “V-Day” when it became the first country to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Yet, as first mover, it has also become the first to report cases of adverse reactions, allowing other nations to watch and learn.

Officials from around the world are keen for British authorities to give them as much information as possible about the two reported cases of anaphylaxis among thousands of people inoculated since mass-vaccination began on Tuesday.

Anaphylaxis is an over-reaction of the body’s immune system, which health specialists describe as severe and sometimes life-threatening. While such allergic reactions are rare in any individual vaccine recipient, they are not unusual during large-scale rollouts, scientists, experts and industry figures said.

The reports nonetheless led to Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) beefing up its guidance for the shot at midnight leading into Thursday, specifically warning that anyone with a history of anaphylaxis should not take it.