Objective fulfilled for the United Kingdom, which even offers itself the luxury of getting a little ahead of its schedule.
Monday, the day of the reopening of the terraces of pubs and restaurants, the country has crossed a symbolic milestone: to offer before mid-April at least a first dose of vaccine against the coronavirus to all over 50 volunteers and to the most vulnerable people. vulnerable or exposed.
"We have now passed a highly significant step in our vaccination program by offering vaccines to all those who are in the nine high-risk groups" in the face of the virus which has killed more than 127,000 people in the country ", a Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement.
In these groups, we find, for example, caregivers, residents in retirement homes, or those over 80 years old.
READ ALSO>
Covid-19: Spain, United Kingdom ... why the situation is improving among our neighbors
More than 32 million people (for 66 million people) have received at least one first dose in the UK, which has maintained its target of offering at least one first dose to all adults by the end of July despite the woes of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
In England, the effective vaccination campaign largely contributed to the end of the crisis.
Around Christmas, the contaminations curve exceeded 35,000 cases per day, reaching the worrying bar of 60,000 cases on January 10.
Coronavirus Newsletter
Update on the Covid-19 epidemic
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
To "control" the new British variant, much more contagious than the "classic" virus, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had taken the painful decision "to enter a fairly strong national confinement".
Painful, because "England reintroduced confinement that went against the policy it had pursued from the start," recalls Benjamin Davido, infectious disease specialist at Garches hospital.
On January 6, the English therefore submit to strict restrictions, with the closure of schools for a month.
First country in the world to authorize Pfizer vaccine
Overwhelmed at that time, British hospitals saw the number of coronavirus patients drop over the weeks of the "lockdown" and dramatic increases in the number of people bitten.
On this last point, the United Kingdom has darkened: in early December, it was the first country in the world to authorize the Pfizer vaccine.
France began its vaccination campaign a month later, a delay that our country has never caught up with.
The British machine has turned out to be formidable.
On February 3, the United Kingdom passed the milestone of ten million vaccinated.
Two months later, 46% of the population received at least one dose.
So much so that in three months the country went from 60,000 to 4,000 cases per day.
These figures pave the way for a major step in deconfinement from mid-April, with the reopening of non-essential shops and restaurant terraces.
