Vaccine success alongside an uncomfortable truth

The UK government has hit its target of 15 million vaccinations by mid-February. Boris Johnson’s government has now set about vaccinating 17.7 million more people including all over-50s and vulnerable children. These figures are all highly promising and are achievable with the NHS’ relentless drive to vaccinate millions.

However, there is a problem.

The UK is one of the leading nations in the world in delivering vaccinations to their people but we are the fifth-worst country for Covid-19 deaths and infection rates.

The UK has had over 4.4 million infections from the virus and over 117,000 Covid-19 related deaths.

This represents our failure. The failure of government officials, giving us a series of contradictory and confusing, and borderline arrogant, commands and instructions. Our failure to abide by those very same baffling guidelines. That toxic mixture is what has led us here.

So, is this all too late then?

No, it is not. Whether we agree or disagree with the response by our government and the actions of our peers, we need to be optimistic that this vaccination programme will work. Also, it is our best solution to emerge from the darkness of our third lockdown.

The good news is simple. The UK has ordered over 400 million vaccines to be rolled out in 2021 and 2022. We have acquired 40 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, and 17 million doses from Moderna. All of these will offer two jabs per person, forecast to be completed by this year.

The roll-out of the vaccinations is a success but it will not, however, cover up for the thousands of lives that have been lost.