UK allegedly has the capacity to vaccinate every adult by end of June

The UK is projected to be able to vaccinate every adult by the end of June.

The country will receive its full allocation of 100m doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in the first half of 2021; when added to the 20m doses of the Pfizer vaccine and several more millions of the Moderna vaccine, this could mean that the country will exceed Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s estimate that every adult over 50 will receive their first dose by the beginning of May.

There are 53m adults in the UK, so ministers think that the UK has the capacity to allocate one dose to every adult while also vaccinating the most vulnerable with two doses.

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Ministers have also announced plans for the production of tens of millions of new vaccines that will tackle the new strains of coronavirus appearing in the UK. These will be rolled out later in the year.

This could be good news for the UK’s nightlife industry, which is suffering under a lack of government support. It was reported last week that only the aviation industry has taken a greater economic hit than the European creative industries, and MPs launched an urgent inquiry in January into the impact of COVID-19 on the UK’s nightlife industry.

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There have been solutions posed by nightlife companies themselves to attempt to get the industry up and running. In November 2020, Swallow Events partnered with Roche healthcare company to launch a rapid coronavirus testing service designed specifically for the events industry. It would produce results within 15 minutes with 99.68% specificity.

Just last month, The Flaming Lips threw two live gigs in Oklahoma City where attendees where all enclosed within space bubbles. Taking the lead from similar events in Germany and the States, in June last year the UK’s first drive-in raves were announced to take place across England, Wales and Scotland.

In May 2020, LA creative studio Production Club developed plans for a pandemic-proof rave suit to enable ravers to gather safely.

[Via inews]

Jemima Skala is Mixmag’s Weekend Editor. Follow her on Twitter

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