Covid: Two million people must be vaccinated each week to prevent third wave, experts warn government

Without strict measures and substantial vaccine roll-out, ‘2021 situation could be worse than 2020’

Britain must vaccinate at least two million people a week in order to prevent a third wave of the coronavirus outbreak, a new study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has reported.

As of Tuesday morning, the UK had recorded at least 71, 217 deaths related to coronavirus, with more than 2.3 million cases confirmed overall, according to data published by the Johns Hopkins University. 

Without strict coronavirus prevention measures and a “substantial vaccine rollout”, the LSHTM study warned that the pandemic’s impact on Britons could be worse in 2021 than in 2020. 

“In the absence of substantial vaccine roll-out, cases, hospitalisations, ICU admissions and deaths in 2021 may exceed those in 2020," the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, warned.

“The most stringent intervention scenario with tier 4 England-wide and schools closed during January and 2 million individuals vaccinated per week, is the only scenario we considered which reduces peak ICU burden below the levels seen during the first wave”, it said.

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A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care touted the UK’s progress so far in its vaccination rollout and said the rate was expected to increase as more doses become available. 

“The UK was the first country in the world to start a vaccination programme using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and because of our swift and decisive action there has been a regular and steady supply of vaccine doses arriving into the UK since early December," the spokesperson said.

“Our brilliant NHS has now vaccinated over 600,000 people against Covid-19 and over the coming weeks and months the rate of vaccination will increase as millions more doses become available and the programme continues to expand," they said. 

The spokesperson did not respond directly to a question on whether the UK would try to provide at least 2 million vaccinations per week as recommended in the LSHTM study.

Earlier this month, the UK became the first country in the world to roll out the Covid-19 vaccine produced by  Pfizer and BioNTech.

The vaccinations roll-out comes as the UK seeks to prevent the spread of a new variant of coronavirus, which could be up to 70 per cent more transmissable.

The new variant is not believed to be more deadly or to have more serious health consequences than the widespread Covid-19. 

The government ramped up its coronavirus response earlier this month after infection rates started to surge in the midst of the new variant, with the introduction of new tier 4 measures that could last for months.