Britain is preparing for the first vaccines

Britain is preparing to become the first country to deliver – this week – the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech against Covid-19.

Doses of the vaccine were initially made available to hospitals before stocks were distributed to medical clinics, the government said.

The first installments are expected to be delivered on Tuesday, with the British National Health Service (NHS) giving top priority to vaccinating people over the age of 80, healthcare workers and care workers.

Britain became the first country to approve the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine last week. In all, it has ordered 40 million doses – enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million.

About 800,000 doses are expected to be available within the first week.

The initial doses arrived from Belgium are stored in safe locations across the country, where quality control will take place, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is stored at a temperature of at least -70 degrees Celsius and lasts for five days under normal freezing temperatures.

For this reason, the Ministry of Health stressed that the vaccine will be given first to 50 hospitals, noting that it will take a few hours to thaw each vaccine and prepare it for use.

The NHS of England has informed general practitioners that they are ready to start vaccinations through the local medical services from December 14.

Teams of local doctors will operate more than 1,000 vaccination centers across the country, the government said.

With information from Reuters