LONDON: Britain begins using Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday in Wales just as its rollout of other shots has fallen to its lowest level this year due to a supply crunch caused by manufacturing problems at AstraZeneca.
Britain has surged ahead of the rest of Europe in the race to vaccinate its population, with almost half of its citizens receiving a first dose, but supply issues from its main Oxford-AstraZeneca shot have slowed progress in recent days.
Britain distributed almost 96,000 shots on Sunday and just over 105,000 on Monday, the lowest figures since the government started publishing daily numbers in January.
British ministers had warned the rollout would slow in April due to AstraZeneca’s manufacturing issues, including at a site in India.
“The Moderna vaccine rollout begins today, starting with Carmarthen in Wales,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “We have ordered 17 million doses that will be going into arms across the UK in the coming weeks.” — Reuters
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