UK speeds up vaccine roll-out with lockdown easing in sight

More than 17.5 million people, a third of UK adults, have had at least one vaccine shot since inoculations began in December.

The British government has declared that every adult in the country should get a first coronavirus vaccine shot by July 31, at least a month earlier than its previous target, as it prepared to set out a “cautious” plan to ease the United Kingdom’s lockdown. The previous aim was for all adults to get a jab by September. The new target also calls for everyone 50 and above and those with an underlying health condition to get their first of two vaccine shots by April 15, rather than the previous date of May 1. The makers of the two vaccines that Britain is using, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, have experienced supply problems in Europe. But UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday that “we now think that we have the supplies” to speed up the vaccination campaign.