The U.K. has started rolling out the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, marking another step in its battle against the coronavirus pandemic, CNBC reports.
The country's National Health Service (NHS) is the first in the world to deploy the jab after it was approved for use in the U.K. by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last week. The NHS said 82-year-old Brian Pinker was the first person in the world to receive the jab Monday morning.
The approval and deployment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is seen as a boon in the race against Covid-19 as it is cheaper than alternatives created by Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna.
Additionally, and unlike rival vaccines, it can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions (2 to 8 degrees Celsius or 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months.
When the vaccine was approved last week, AstraZeneca said it aimed "to supply millions of doses in the first quarter" as part of its deal with the U.K. government to supply up to 100 million doses in total.
As a two-dose vaccine, the agreement means up to 50 million people in the U.K., which has a population of around 66 million, could be inoculated.
In a statement Monday, the U.K. government said that more than half a million doses are now available "with tens of millions more to be delivered in the coming weeks and months once batches have been quality checked by the MHRA."
