The UK is now running the fastest vaccination programme in the world

[Baileysforchristmas]

We have got a lot of things wrong but thanks to our scientists we are now leading on the way out of this

Matt Hancock's Commons statement to MPs

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is making a statement to MPs about Covid.

He says today marks 12 weeks since Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive a clinically approved vaccine.

He says the UK is now running the fastest vaccination programme in the world.

He says the halving time for hospital admissions (ie, the amount of time it takes for them to go down by half) is 18 days.

Among the over-80s it is falling every 12 days, he says.

Hancock says two more pieces of research show the impact the vaccination programme is having.

Having delivered 20 million jabs is impressive. Some people can’t seem to bring themselves to say that or acknowledge it.

It is and agree.

It is impressive.
Imagine if the nhs had been involved in test and trace!
It might actually be fit for purpose.

Fuck’s sake. Can’t we just say “yes, we are getting this absolutely right”

It was a good move to delay 2nd jabs. Credit where credit is due, please

Yes, it was. Let's just forget about £billions paid to tory cronies to provide (or not) services that do not work properly.
Matt Hancock has been told he broke the law handing out those contracts.
No one cares.
Until the tax rises hit to pay for those contracts of course :)
Then you may feel differently.
But, yay! Vaccines!
Let's just pretend that the government are competent and don't break the law.

I think its perfectly valid to celebrate success whilst also pointing out illegal activities and incompetence.

@AnyFucker

Fuck’s sake. Can’t we just say “yes, we are getting this absolutely right”

It was a good move to delay 2nd jabs. Credit where credit is due, please

Yes we are getting this right. We are doing good.

That doesn't change the actual facts about vaccination rates.

This page contains a chart with actual rates per 100 people and the number of days that a country has been vaccinating. The 'fastest' is Israel, by a wide margin.

edition.cnn.com/interactive/2021/health/global-covid-vaccinations/index.html

@Bee0808

Yes, it was. Let's just forget about £billions paid to tory cronies to provide (or not) services that do not work properly. Matt Hancock has been told he broke the law handing out those contracts. No one cares. Until the tax rises hit to pay for those contracts of course :) Then you may feel differently. But, yay! Vaccines! Let's just pretend that the government are competent and don't break the law.

You are not reading your sources correctly: There is no evidence YET that "tory cronies" were paid to provide services that were not completed. Many contracts were handed to existing contractors, without going to tender, under emergency rules, that is not the same thing. Matt Hancock did not break the law "handing out those contracts". He broke the law which says "you have to supply copies of contracts within 28 days". Most were supplied with 48 days. This was due to high volume of contracts, and the effect of pandemic on staffing in turning these contracts around.

If you are going to post stuff like this, get your facts right .

The UK is certainly making good progress, and that's great - god knows the country has suffered enough. It's not the nicest race to be winning though, when you think about what it means for those bringing up the rear.

And let's face it, it's not as though the average Joe Civilian in any country has any choice or impact on how or when they are vaccinated. So yes, good for the Brits that they are getting vaccinated. But sad for all those in other countries who just aren't, through no fault of their own.

Ha!
Yeah.
Those Deloitte testing centres were a huge success 👏
Serco has made so much money from covid they have given out dividends for the 1st time in 7 years...
Where there's muck there's brass.

Unfortunately, those who think UK vaccination rates means that the world will open up again are wrong.
Until everyone is vaccinated we are all still at risk.
Its fascinating, really. Unlike malaria or other diseases in the developing world covid knows no borders.
Until the West starts helping the developing world the variants will continue and potentially get more serious.
That's sort of how viruses work.

@Bee0808

Ha! Yeah. Those Deloitte testing centres were a huge success 👏 Serco has made so much money from covid they have given out dividends for the 1st time in 7 years... Where there's muck there's brass.

To be fair, it took them a long time, but we do now have once of the best testing regimes in the world....... I'm not saying it has been perfect, far from it, and it took way too long, but you can't knock it now.

Oh, and by the way, the vaccination roll out is a huge operation, involving BEIS at the front end, NHS and PHE, and lots and lots of those consultancies that you have a problem with. Someone has to do the work, it doesn't really matter who, as long as the job gets doen, at the end of the day, someone will be paid for it.

Its a personal thing I guess, but I'd far rather my taxes go to pay NHS staff and experts in their field, not dido fucking harding

I disagree with a lot of action taken/not taken by Boris and co but the vaccine rollout is impressive.

Uk absolutely is fastest!

Looking at that cnn data some of the other countries haven’t even done a million! I’m not much longer than when Israel started (10 days later) we have vaccinated 12 million more - how can you even knock the uk and compare that?!! We have thrashed every other country

@Haffiana

UK have fully vaccinated approx 1.2% of the population.

Israel have fully vaccinated 40% of the population.

There are many other countries that have fully vaccinated a greater percentage than the UK.

I don't think it's really fair to compare to Israel due to the nature of their vaccination programme.

Brilliant vaccine programme, procurement, roll-out.

The urgency was definitely there in view of the utter mess we were in January after the aborted second lockdown in early December and stupid policies regarding Christmas etc.

Highest death rate in the world in early January.

So the need for vaccination was arguably the highest in the world.

Now the government need to restrict non-essential travel properly so the vaccination success is not lost (snatching defeat from the hands of victory needs to be avoided at all costs).

Credit also to those who volunteer at vaccination centres. I volunteer at a mass hub and since mid Feb it has been completely community run: from the entrance to the car park though to the cleaning of chairs in the observation area (15 minute post vaccination wait if you are driving home). We have over 1000 people volunteering their time.

Yes and vaccinate everyone coming into the UK plus quarantine for 10 days

The focus really doesn’t need to be ok second doses given almost all protection comes from the first

Well done to all the volunteers 👏

The U.K. rollout has been good but it hasn't been the fastest. The US has done 76million doses all of those being the tricky cold temp ones as they haven't approved the AZ one.

I don't think it's really fair to compare to Israel due to the nature of their vaccination programme.

Eh? What 'nature'?

@Haffiana

I don't think it's really fair to compare to Israel due to the nature of their vaccination programme.

Eh? What 'nature'?

The fact they secured an uninterrupted supply of the Pfizer vaccine in return for them sending the company anonymised data on the rollout? Other factors have come into play, and it was some political brilliance (albeit could have proven to have been a huge risk) that secured it, but I wouldn't say it was directly comparable because of that.

Cloudbeeb is correct, Israel is a special case, though they have done a brilliant job in organising and implementing their programme.

The fact they secured an uninterrupted supply of the Pfizer vaccine in return for them sending the company anonymised data on the rollout? Other factors have come into play, and it was some political brilliance (albeit could have proven to have been a huge risk) that secured it, but I wouldn't say it was directly comparable because of that.

Yes, and the UK also purchased a huge supply - 300 doses or somesuch overkill. So what? You seem to be saying that they cheated in some way. It isn't bloody football teams. The fact is that thanks to their government and their vaccine programme they have vaccinated a far greater proportion of their population than the UK in a shorter time, as have the UAE also.

Many poorer countries have no vaccine and haven't vaccinated anyone at all. How do we compare them to the UK? What does that say about the political brilliance of the UK?