Britons set to receive first jabs

The United Kingdom is this week rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.

Dosages will first be administered from hospitals around the country beginning on Tuesday, with doctors' clinics to receive batches of the vaccine later, the government said on Sunday.

Some 800,000 doses will be available in the first week, with the over-80s, front-line healthcare workers, and care home staff and residents first in line to receive the jabs, according to the National Health Service, or NHS.

British authorities gave approval for emergency use of the vaccine last week. The government has ordered 40 million doses, which is enough to vaccinate 20 million people, as each person receives two separate jabs.

However, reports indicate there may still be hurdles to overcome in terms of delivery from Europe. One report last week indicated that manufacturing delays in October mean the UK may receive fewer doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine this year than had been initially hoped.

The Financial Times reported that an official close to the discussions had said that the UK "was having to scale back its expectations".

BioNTech has stated that 5 million doses would be delivered this year. The newspaper's source said the number of doses delivered by the end of this month would be closer to 4 million due to the production problems.

The Guardian reported that massive batches of the vaccine would be flown into the UK from Belgium by military aircraft "to avoid delays at ports caused by Brexit" under contingency plans developed by the government.