(Dan Tri) – A study shows that the UK may stockpile an excess of 210 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of this year, as the country considers vaccinating additional doses to deal with the Delta variant.
The UK plans to vaccinate booster doses for high-risk populations from next September (Illustration: PA).
Guardian quoted data from analytics company Airfinity on August 9 saying that the UK will receive about 467 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of this year.
As of August 7, the UK has fully vaccinated about 74.5% of people over 18 years old, while about 89% of adults have received at least one dose.
The vaccine supply gap is currently a controversial issue in the context of the world still struggling to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Britain, France and Germany are expected to deploy the third dose of vaccination for the elderly from next September to increase the level of protection against the spread of the Delta variant.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on August 4 called on countries to postpone plans for 3rd dose vaccination in the context that many parts of the world are still struggling to access vaccines.
According to an internal WHO analysis, if 11 wealthy countries jointly deployed or considered vaccinating everyone over 50 with a third dose of the vaccine this year, they would use up to 440 million doses of vaccine.
`We need an immediate turnaround on vaccine distribution. Instead of focusing on high-income countries, vaccines must now be prioritized for low-income countries,` Tedros said.
Amid controversy over rich countries pooling vaccines, a British government spokesman affirmed: `The UK is committed to supporting the global response to Covid-19 and improving vaccine access.