Thanks to the success of the vaccine, the UK is eager for a major resumption

London-When the London Science Museum reopens next week, several new artifacts will appear on the new COVID-19 display, including empty vaccine visals, test kits and other items collected during the pandemic.

UK is not ready to outsource Coronavirus To the museum — the outbreak is not over yet. However, there is a certain feeling that Britain has been cornered, and the mood of Britain is bright.

“The end is coming,” claimed the front page of a newspaper. “Finally free!” Read another.

Thanks to an efficient vaccine deployment program, the UK is finally farewell to months of strict blockade restrictions.

Starting Monday, all restaurants and bars in the UK, as well as hotels, theaters and museums, can be reopened with some precautions. And by relaxing the rules of social distance that have been in place since the pandemic began, British people will be able to hug friends and family again.

This is the biggest step ever to reopen the country, following the mitigation of the crisis blaming nearly 128,000 deaths, the largest victim of COVID-19 reported in Europe.

Deaths in the UK have recently dropped to single digits. In a brutal second wave caused by a more infectious subspecies first discovered in southeastern England, it is far from January, when more than 1,800 people died in a single day.

New cases plummeted to an average of about 2,000 per day, compared to about 70,000 per day during peak winters.

I’m still worried. British officials expressed concern this week about an increase in cases of the first coronavirus mutant identified in India. Authorities said Friday that they would advance the date of the second vaccination for people over the age of 50 to strengthen protection.

Boris Johnson said the new variant could “cause serious disruption” to the progress of the UK’s recovery, but there seems to be no evidence of an increase in cases that “lead to uncontrollable pressure” on UK hospitals. Said that.

British health officials have been competing to stay ahead of the virus by immunizing hundreds of thousands of people a day in hospitals, soccer fields and churches across the country. As of this week, 36 million people (about 68% of the adult population) are receiving initial doses. About 19 million people are taking both doses.

It’s an impressive feat, and many have acknowledged much of its success in the UK’s universal public health system.

According to experts, the United Kingdom National Health Service, one of the country’s most respected institutions, is at greatest risk to the entire population, as almost everyone is registered with a general practitioner. People can be easily identified.

That infrastructure was important, coupled with the early start of the government to secure vaccine doses. British officials began ordering millions of doses from manufacturers late last spring and closed a deal months before the European Union to ensure that the entire population had enough vaccine to inoculate. ..

Bessie Baird, a policy researcher at Kings Fund, said: “It’s not surprising that we and Israel, perhaps the two countries in the world with the most powerful primary care systems, are doing their best to deploy vaccines. Charities to improve healthcare.

“We have medical records. We can understand where the patients are. We are not trying to negotiate with different insurance companies …. it’s the same across the country. It’s a standard, “she added. “In the United States, it’s hard to really think about how to reach a poorly serviced community and how to get out of it and provide the same access to everyone for this vaccine. I will. “

David Salisbury, a former director of the government’s vaccination program and a fellow at the Chatham House think tank in London, added that the UK has a proven track record of successful deployment in other regions as well. vaccine, Seasonal influenza vaccination, etc.

Many people around the world were skeptical of the UK’s decision to delay the second vaccination by up to 12 weeks to release the vaccine for more people, but the strategy has enormous benefits. I did. The two shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine were intended to be given at intervals of 3 and 4 weeks.

Anthony Hahnden, a scholar at Oxford University and a top government vaccination adviser, said, “I had a lot of questions,” and “I opposed many countries.” I didn’t agree, but the authorities stuck to the plan.

“Looking back at that time, it was very important to vaccinate vulnerable people, as more than a thousand people die every day in the UK,” he said. “This was an innovative and bold strategy, but it was based on previous vaccine experience.”

The success of the vaccine program has been a coveted boost for the UK.

Many who have accused the government of poor control of last year’s outbreaks say Britain is finally doing the right thing.

“We didn’t hand over (vaccine deployment) to an outsourcing company. That would have been a big mistake, and we weren’t as late as the first wave. London School of Hygiene and “We acted swiftly, so it was like a mirror image of the mistakes we made in the first wave,” said Martin McKee, a professor of European public health at Tropical Medicine.

Still, McKee said he was worried that too many people would turn their attention to the wind too soon.

Young people who are at much lower risk of serious illness but can still spread the virus are not yet included in the vaccination program. Official figures also show that there is a large gap in vaccination between minorities and the poor.

McKee and many others are also concerned about the emerging variants. The risk is especially worrisome as the UK will slowly reopen to foreign tourists this summer.

“There was very disappointing evidence from Chile and Seychelles, both of which have a high proportion of vaccinated people, have lifted many restrictions and surged,” McKee said.

Hahnden is more optimistic. If the UK can deploy a booster program later this year and people remain cautious, “we can get out of this,” he said, and by the summer of 2022 we can get closer to normal. ..

“We’re not completely out of the way yet, but we’re in a much better place than in the last few months,” he said.

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The Associated Press writer Mike Fuller contributed to this report.

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