London: More than 600,000 people have received the Pfizer vaccine against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), the UK’s Department of Health said on Thursday night.
“Thanks to a huge effort from the NHS [National Health Service] to overcome significant logistical challenges, 616,933 people across the UK have had their jab of the coronavirus vaccine,” Sputnik quoted the ministry as saying.
More than 521,000 people got vaccinated in England, over 56,000 in Scotland, more than 22,000 in Wales and over 16,000 in Northern Ireland.
“Over the coming weeks and months, the rate of vaccination will increase as more doses become available and the programme continues to expand, with more vaccines being delivered direct to care homes,” the department added.
Last week, the UK identified a new variant of the coronavirus that is 70 per cent more transmissible than other SARS-CoV-2 virus strains. Subsequently, many countries, including India, temporarily banned flights from and to UK.
UK was the first country to approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech pharmaceutical companies.