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Updated April 6th, 2021 at 19:39 IST

UK coronavirus vaccine supply is challenging but targets will be met: Minister

The UK's COVID-19 vaccine programme is challenging due to supply constraints, but it will meet its targets, the British minister for vaccine deployment said.

Reported by: Riya Baibhawi
Image Credits: Nadhim Zahawi/Facebook/ Unsplash 
Image Credits: Nadhim Zahawi/Facebook/ Unsplash  | Image:self
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The UK's coronavirus vaccine programme is challenging due to supply constraints, but it will meet its targets, the British minister for vaccine deployment said on April 5. Speaking to LBC Radio, Nadhim Zahawi asserted that while the supply of the jabs was “finite and challenging”, he was confident that all British residents would be inoculated in time. The country which started its ambitious vaccination programme earlier in December has successfully inoculated over 31 million of its residents with at least one dose of vaccine.

According to the health ministry’s official data, a total of 31,581,623 people have received 1st doses while 5,432,126 people have been completely inoculated. The administration now aims to complete the immunisation of 32 million by April 15. For this purpose, Zahawi said that the country is set to receive 12 million doses of vaccine in April itself.  

Conflict over vaccine

Britain has been engaged in a vaccine war with European Union since the beginning of the year. The bloc has been contesting to secure more and more doses of vaccine shots, particularly from AstraZeneca Plc. Earlier, European Commission Chief Ursula Von Der Leyen warned that the EU will ban drug firms from exporting COVID-19 vaccines to the UK and other countries until they make good on their promised deliveries to the bloc. The Anglo Swedish pharmaceutical had promised the EU to supply 90 million doses in the first quarter of 2021. However, its supply is hindered by one of its factories in the Netherlands, which the UK claims to be part of its vaccine supply chain.  

Von der Leyen has been backed by French President Emmanuel Macron.  "I support the idea that we should block all possible exports for as long as the labs don't respect their commitments to Europeans," he said. The decision also gained the support of Italy’s newly appointed Premier Mario Draghi who said that EU countries cannot remain “helpless” in front of the failure of some pharmaceutical companies that are not honouring commitments. He said that European citizens feel like they are being “deceived” by some drugmakers, as reported by The Associated Press. 

Image Credits: Nadhim Zahawi/Facebook/ Unsplash 

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Published April 6th, 2021 at 19:39 IST

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