Babak Belurs

Rabu, 17 Maret 2021

COVID-19: UK to face 'significant reduction' in vaccine supplies from 29 March - Sky News

The UK is going to face a "significant reduction" in vaccine supplies from 29 March onwards, according to a letter from NHS England.

The letter - which has been sent to local vaccination sites across the country - says volumes for first doses are going to be "significantly constrained".

Healthcare providers have now been told that those aged 49 and under should only be offered a vaccine in "exceptional circumstances" - such as if they are clinically vulnerable or a frontline care worker.

Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world

Disruption could last for four weeks, and the government's vaccines taskforce has told the health service that this is linked to "reductions in national inbound vaccines supply".

From today, vaccination centres are being told to close unfilled bookings from 29 March onwards - and to ensure no further appointments are scheduled for the whole of April.

This could result in disappointment for those who were hoping to get their vaccine soon, and could cause delays for younger age groups.

Despite the strongly worded language in the letter, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the Downing Street briefing: "Vaccine supply is always lumpy and we regularly send out technical letters to the NHS to explain the ups and downs of the supply over the future weeks. What you're referring to is a standard one of those letters."

Mr Hancock also stressed that the UK remains on track to offer a first dose to all 32 million people in the top nine priority groups by 15 April.

When asked whether the letter means under-50s will have to wait an extra month to get their jab, he reaffirmed a commitment that all adults will be able to receive a vaccine by the end of July.

In the letter, NHS England said that it is "vital" that second doses of the COVID-19 jab are delivered on schedule, with the number of Britons due to receive their final vaccine set to double from the beginning of April.

"We must take this time to deliver protection to the most vulnerable," it added.

Efforts are also being stepped up to minimise wastage with existing supplies.

NHS chief commercial officer Emily Lawson, who wrote the letter, added: "Our vaccination delivery programme was designed to be flexible, scaled up and diversified in line with fluctuating international vaccine supplies.

"Thank you for your continued efforts, and, as ever, we are hugely grateful for everything that you are doing to make the NHS's part in the delivery of this programme the success that it is."

The news came hours after the UK announced that more than 25 million people have now had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine - with everyone over the age of 50 invited to come forward to get a jab.

Tensions have also been rising with the EU, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen threatening to block vaccine exports to the UK.

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2021-03-17 17:33:36Z
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Covid: NHS warns of 'significant reduction' in vaccines - BBC News

The NHS has written to local health organisations warning of a "significant reduction in weekly supply" of coronavirus vaccines from the week beginning 29 March for a month.

It says there has been a "reduction in national inbound vaccines supply".

It also says organisations should "ensure no further appointments are uploaded to the national booking system or local booking system" in April.

The BBC understands no one who has booked a vaccine should lose a slot.

Asked about the letter, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said "vaccine supply is always lumpy", and added that the NHS regularly sent out "technical letters" explaining the "ups and downs" of supply.

When will it be my turn to be vaccinated?

The letter says "over this next period it is vital" that health organisations focus on vaccinating those in the one to nine groups who are most vulnerable to coronavirus.

It advises vaccination services to work with local authorities, voluntary community and faith organisations "to put in place reserve lists" of people eligible for the vaccine, as well as targeting areas of lower uptake.

The NHS says vaccination centres and community pharmacy-led services should close unfilled bookings from the week commencing 29 March.

Earlier, it was announced that almost half of British adults have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

The Department of Health said 25 million people had received their first dose, while 1.7 million had been given their second dose.

Mr Hancock said that the nation was "ahead of schedule" to offer a first dose to all over-50s by 15 April.

All adults in the UK are expected to be offered their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of July.

Speaking at a press conference, Mary Ramsay, the head of immunisation at Public Health England, said "every day we vaccinate more people we are preventing more deaths".

BBC politics correspondent Jonathan Blake said the hold-up would have an impact on the momentum of the vaccine rollout and possibly the government's targets.

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2021-03-17 17:06:43Z
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Health department was 'smoking ruin' on Covid - Cummings - BBC News

The prime minister's former aide, Dominic Cummings, has criticised the Department of Health as "a smoking ruin in terms of procurement and PPE" at the start of the pandemic.

He said that was why Boris Johnson had taken direct control of the vaccine programme.

He also told MPs Mr Johnson approached him about working in Downing Street the week before he took office.

He said he asked him to "help sort out the huge Brexit nightmare".

Mr Cummings said he agreed but one of his preconditions was that science funding should be doubled.

He was giving evidence to MPs on the Science and Technology Committee about the creation of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency know as Aria.

But in his first public appearance since leaving office, he also criticised the health department's response to the pandemic.

He said: "In spring 2020 you had a situation where the Department for Health was just a smoking ruin in terms of procurement and PPE and all of that, you had serious problems with the funding bureaucracy for therapeutics on Covid."

He said the government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, had advised Number 10 that the vaccine rollout should not be run out of the Department for Health and that a separate task force should be created.

"It's not coincidental that the vaccine programme worked the way it did. It's not coincidental that to do that we had to take it out of the Department of Health," he added.

"We had to have it authorised very directly by the prime minister and say strip away all the normal nonsense that we can see is holding back funding."

But a source at the health department told the BBC's chief political correspondent Adam Fleming that getting the vaccine programme established was a "massive team effort".

They added: "Everyone in DHSC was and is spending their time focused on saving lives, expanding the world leading vaccine rollout and getting through this pandemic."

The Vaccine Taskforce is a team of almost 200 people at the Department for Business that was established to make sure the UK got promising vaccines.

Mr Cummings said as the country emerges from lockdown there needs to be an "urgent very, very hard look" by Parliament at "what went wrong and why" during the pandemic.

"One of the most obvious lessons is the incredible value potentially of getting science and technology stuff right, the disaster that can come if you don't get it right."

It was this "horrific Whitehall bureaucracy" he wanted to strip away when he championed the new "high risk" Aria scientific research agency, he told MPs.

He said: "The prime minister came to speak to me the Sunday before he became prime minister and said: 'Would I come in to Downing Street to try and help sort out the huge Brexit nightmare?'.

"I said, yes, if first of all you are deadly serious about actually getting Brexit done and avoiding a second referendum; secondly, double the science budget; third, create some Aria like entity, and fourth support me in trying to change how Whitehall works and the Cabinet Office works because it is a disaster zone. And he said 'deal'."

Science funding

Answering MPs' questions about science funding, Mr Cummings said scientists had been lobbying for the creation of a body such as Aria that would have "extreme freedom" but he said he was aware that this was "completely hostile to normal bureaucracy".

The government says Aria will fund "high-risk, high-reward" scientific research and "help to cement the UK's position as a global science superpower".

It will be run along the lines of US equivalents that were instrumental in the creation of the internet and GPS.

Aria, which has £800m funding over four years, will have a "higher tolerance for failure than is normal", ministers say.

But the amount of funding it will get is a fraction of the money pumped into existing government research bodies such as UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

For 2020-21, the government has allocated £10.36bn for its research programmes and bodies.

Labour said there needed to be greater transparency around how the agency would operate.

Labour MP Dawn Butler, who sits on the science committee, said because Aria was exempt from freedom of information requests this would undoubtedly "raise alarm bells" about how taxpayers' money would be spent given "the recent PPE scandals".

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng insisted the "corporate governance arrangements are very robust".

He added he would be responsible for reporting to Parliament on Aria and that the agency would have to submit accounts that would be scrutinised by MPs.

"I think there will be a great deal of transparency and oversight," he added.

At the start of the hearing, chair Greg Clark said Mr Cummings had agreed to give evidence on the Covid pandemic to a joint inquiry by the science and health committees.

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2021-03-17 12:34:24Z
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Covid: People aged 50-54 invited for jab in England - BBC News

Vaccinations at Kingston University in March 2021

People aged 50 and over in England are now being invited to book their appointment for a Covid vaccine.

This is the final group on the priority list, which covers 99% at high risk of dying from Covid-19.

Everyone in the top nine priority groups should be offered a second dose by mid-July, up to 12 weeks after the first.

Nearly half of the UK adult population has had a jab - more than 24 million people.

Around 1.6 million people have also had a second dose.

In Northern Ireland and some areas of Scotland, the over-50s are already being offered a Covid vaccine. Parts of England may already have started offering it to this age group too, with Wales targeting an offer of one dose to all over-50s by mid-April.

In total, the number of people who have had one vaccine dose is:

More than 21 million in England
About 1.9 million in Scotland
Just over one million in Wales
More than 630,000 in Northern Ireland

The number of vaccines given this week in the UK is expected to top four million - nearly double what has been achieved per week recently - thanks to a large shipment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India.

This could mean all over-50s will be offered one dose by the end of March, putting the NHS rollout two weeks ahead of schedule.

After that, the rest of the adult population will be vaccinated, with people prioritised by age.

Timetable showing how vulnerable groups will receive the vaccine. Updated 26 Feb.

All adults in the UK are expected to be offered their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of July.

It is 100 days since Margaret Keenan became the first person in the UK to be vaccinated against Covid outside of clinical trials.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "I'm determined no-one should miss out on the chance to protect themselves and urge everyone who is eligible to come forward."

Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and NHS England's primary care director, said vaccine supplies would go up and down over the next few months linked to manufacturers' ability to supply their jabs.

"But this week and next we have larger supplies, so we want anyone in the top priority groups - people aged 50 and older as well as those working in health and care and anyone with an underlying health condition - to come forward soon to protect themselves and their loved ones," she said.

Text invitations

Two million text messages are being sent out to those aged 50-54 in England with a link allowing people to book an appointment through the national booking service website.

People who cannot go online can call the service on 119.

The expansion of the Covid vaccine rollout comes after the government reassured people the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine - one of two being given to people in the UK - was safe, after 13 countries paused their use of it.

Analysis box by Nick Triggle, health correspondent

Expect a surge in vaccinations in the next week or so. Extra supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine have arrived from abroad to supplement existing stocks.

The target to offer a vaccine to all those aged 50 and over by mid-April will almost certainly be met ahead of schedule. It will then be the turn of younger adults.

The progress means the UK is easing restrictions as parts of Europe face new waves of infection.

Concerns have been raised about safety of the AstraZeneca jab - the European regulator is investigating cases of blood clots, focusing on a rare type that affects the brain.

Evidence from 10 million doses given in the UK show there have been three cases - none fatal.

This is not above the level you would expect to happen normally, suggesting coincidence rather than cause.

In Germany the numbers are higher - but because these events are so rare, it's easy for a couple of cases to raise alarm.

It's understandable they are being investigated, but what has baffled experts is why some nations have paused rollout in the meantime.

After all, this vaccine saves lives. That's why authorities here say it's safe and even the European regulator says vaccination should continue.

The EU's regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), is expected to release the findings of its investigation into cases of rare blood clots in a tiny number of vaccinated people on Thursday.

But the UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, and Downing Street has said there is no evidence to suggest the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is linked to the clots.

Mr Hancock urged people to "listen to the regulators" and to "get the jab" as soon as they got the opportunity.

Science funding

The government says Aria will fund "high-risk, high-reward" scientific research and "help to cement the UK's position as a global science superpower".

It will be run along the lines of US equivalents that were instrumental in the creation of the internet and GPS.

Aria, which has £800m funding over four years, will have a "higher tolerance for failure than is normal", ministers say.

But the amount of funding it will get is a fraction of the money pumped into existing government research bodies such as UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

For 2020-21 alone, the government has allocated £10.36bn for its research programmes and bodies.

Labour said the government needed to clarify what the agency would do.

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Stuart Lubbock: Murder arrest over death in Michael Barrymore pool - BBC News

A 50-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the indecent assault and murder of Stuart Lubbock at the home of Michael Barrymore.

Mr Lubbock, 31, was found dead in the TV presenter's pool in Roydon, Essex, in March 2001.

The man was arrested in Cheshire and is being questioned in custody, Essex Police said.

Mr Lubbock had been attending a party at the home of Mr Barrymore, 68, with eight other people.

A post-mortem examination found Mr Lubbock had suffered "horrific" injuries prior to his death, police said.

Alcohol, ecstasy and cocaine were found in his bloodstream.

No-one has ever been charged with any offence in relation to the death.

Mr Lubbock, a butcher from Harlow, was described by neighbours at the time of his death as a "pleasant, sociable" man.

Reacting to news of the arrest, Mr Lubbock's father Terry said: "There is just so much going on in my head. I can't get my head around it.

"Of course I'm happy. Of course this is good news. But it's been 20 years. This has nearly killed me."

In February, the 76-year-old from Harlow said he had only months to live after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

"All I've been living for is to get justice for Stuart," he said.

Mr Barrymore and two other men were arrested in 2007 on suspicion of sexual assault and murder, but were later released without charge.

The TV personality, who was known for shows including Strike It Lucky, has always denied involvement in the death.

Speaking last year, he said: "I have had nothing to do with this whatsoever and yet I keep getting bashed and bullied by the media."

An inquest into Mr Lubbock's death, in 2002, recorded an open verdict.

Three years ago, the then-attorney general, Jeremy Wright, refused to let Terry Lubbock make a High Court application for a second inquest.

In 2009, the police watchdog published the findings of a review of the investigation into Mr Lubbock's death, concluding that officers missed crucial evidence and did not ensure vital forensic tests were completed until six years later.

Police relaunched an appeal for information about Mr Lubbock's death in February last year.

The appeal coincided with the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary about the death.

Timeline: Investigation into Stuart Lubbock's death

March 2001: Stuart Lubbock is found dead at Michael Barrymore's home
September 2002: An inquest in Epping, Essex, records an open verdict on his death
April 2006: Police announce they are reviewing the 31-year-old's death as part of "routine" procedure
June 2007: Mr Barrymore and two other men are arrested and questioned on suspicion of seriously sexually assaulting and murdering Mr Lubbock. They are later released without charge
February 2009: The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) publishes the findings of a review of the police investigation, concluding officers missed crucial evidence
February 2020: A fresh police appeal coincides with a Channel 4 documentary
17 March 2021: Essex Police announces a man, 50, has been arrested in Cheshire on suspicion of Mr Lubbock's murder and indecent assault

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

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2021-03-17 11:17:43Z
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Everyone aged 50 or over in England can now book a coronavirus vaccination - Sky News

Everyone aged 50 and over in England is now being invited to book a coronavirus vaccination on the NHS website.

It comes after the government announced last month that all over-50s should be offered a coronavirus vaccine by May.

The government is aiming to offer a vaccine to all those in the first nine priority groups by then.

Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world

This includes older care home residents and staff, everyone over 70, all front line NHS and care staff, those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, the over-65s, all those over 16 with underlying health conditions, the over-60s, over-55s and now the over-50s.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has already recommended that the next phase of COVID vaccinations should continue to prioritise people by age and not their occupation to avoid slowing down the rollout.

People aged 40-49 will be the next in line to get a vaccine after all vulnerable groups and the over-50s are covered.

The committee said this would provide "the greatest benefit in the shortest time".

It added that prioritising occupational groups such as teachers and police could make the rollout more complex and could potentially slow the vaccination programme overall, leaving some vulnerable people at higher risk for longer.

The priority order of vaccinations for phase two will be:

• Everyone aged between 40 and 49
• Everyone aged between 30 and 39
• Everyone aged between 18 and 29

Nearly 25 million people across the UK had received their first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by Tuesday.

The UK also carried out 53,366 second vaccination jabs on Monday, meaning 1,663,646 people have had a full course of a drug.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set the target of vaccinating all UK adults by the end of July.

England is eyeing a return of the rule of six and the resumption of organised sports on 29 March.

Elsewhere, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the country's "stay at home" order would be replaced with a "stay local" message on 2 April.

It follows a similar move from the Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, with the "stay at home" order changed over the past weekend.

Northern Ireland's lockdown restrictions will be reviewed later this week.

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2021-03-17 10:52:30Z
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Rabu, 17 Maret 2021

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Science funding

Timeline: Investigation into Stuart Lubbock's death

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