UK Prime Minister Gives Assurance COVID-19 Vaccine Will Not Be Mandatory

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2020) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reassured on Wednesday that the COVID-19 vaccine, which will begin to be rolled out in the United Kingdom as soon as next week, will not be mandatory, but said that his government was working to tackle online disinformation campaigns promoted by anti-vax groups.

"I strongly urge people to take up the vaccine but it is no part of our culture or our ambition in this country to make vaccines mandatory. That is not how we do things," Johnson told parliament during the weekly Prime Minister Question Hour.

The prime minister started the session welcoming the "fantastic news" that the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had authorized the vaccine candidate developed by US pharmaceutical Pfizer and German firm BioNTech, but warned that it did not mean the end of the fight with COVID-19.

"This is unquestionably very, very good news but it is by no means the end of the story, it is not the end of our national struggle against coronavirus," he said, urging people to follow the tiered system of restrictions that came into force in England after the national lockdown was lifted on Wednesday.

Johnson also confirmed that 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be available in the UK by next week and that the first people to be offered the vaccine will be older residents in care homes and their staff, followed by people over 80 and front-line healthcare workers.

Pressed by Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, the prime minister admitted, however, that the National Health Service (NHS) would have to overcome some logistical problems to transport the vaccine to all the corners of the country.

"We are working on it with all the devolved administrations in order to ensure the NHS across the country is able to distribute it as fast and as sensibly as possible to the most vulnerable groups," he said.

The United Kingdom has become the first country in the world to approve the US-German vaccine, and the MHRA is also expected to issue its verdict on its assessment of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming days.