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BRITAIN is unlikely to achieve herd immunity through a Covid-19 vaccination programme before the summer, a scientist advising the government warned today.
Calum Semple, professor of outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), described the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine as a “game changer” if it is approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the coming days.
But he told BBC Breakfast: “To get the wider community herd immunity from vaccination rather than through natural infection, 70 to 80 per cent of the population will probably have to be vaccinated, and that, I’m afraid, is going to take us right into the summer I expect.”
It comes as hospitals in the south struggle to cope as the number of coronavirus patients receiving treatment heads towards the April peak in admissions.
Paramedics in the capital are receiving almost 8,000 call-outs daily, and Boxing Day was described as one of London Ambulance Service’s “busiest ever days.”
The 7,918 calls received by the service on December 26 was up more than 2,500 on the 5,217 received on the same day last year as medics receive support from other ambulance services in the south.
Dr Katherine Henderson, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, described her experience of working in a hospital on Christmas Day as one of “wall-to-wall Covid.”
She said: “We see patients who are coming in who have Covid symptoms and we have other people coming in with other symptoms who turn out to be Covid positive.
“Between that, there’s a great deal of difficulty getting those patients through into the wards.
“The chances are that we will cope, but we cope at a cost – not being able to continue non-Covid activities.”
According to government figures, a further 316 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday, bringing the UK total to 70,752.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has not ruled out the whole country being moved into the highest Tier 4 restrictions, with a review expected on December 30.
