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London (AP) - More than one in four adults in Great Britain has already received the first protective spade.

Around 15 million citizens, and thus the most vulnerable groups, had been vaccinated with a first dose by mid-February - as stated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the beginning of the year as an ambitious milestone.

"This is a unique national success," said the prime minister.

It is the first real success of his government in the corona pandemic - after an unprecedented series of bankruptcies and wrong decisions.

Thanks to faster approval, the UK was able to start vaccinating on December 8th - and build up a massive pace over the first few weeks.

Vaccination centers opened every week, and general practitioners and pharmacies were also allowed to help out quickly.

The vaccination became an event, for example in the stadium or in the famous cathedral in Salisbury, where seniors were immunized to the sounds of the organ.

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It was only when the EU countries started vaccinating around the turn of the year and things got hooked here and there on the continent that it became clear: Many cogs in the British vaccination program seem to work quite silently, and the government has repeatedly announced new daily records.

It didn't take conservative Brexiteers long to sell this as the early success of leaving the EU: finally free from the annoying, slow mills of the EU - so the narrative.

But Kate Bingham, the head of the British vaccination task force, thinks little of this interpretation.

Her long-standing contacts in the pharmaceutical industry have enabled her to call vaccine manufacturers directly and conclude extensive contracts at an early stage, she recently told “Welt am Sonntag”.

If other promising vaccine candidates such as Johnson & Johnson or Novavax are also approved, Great Britain has ordered enough vaccine doses to vaccinate its own population three times.

These are numbers that one can only dream of in the EU, where Commission head Ursula von der Leyen has meanwhile admitted mistakes in procurement.

Not to mention poorer countries.

"The government gambled - and it paid off in this case," said Azeem Majeed, a doctor from Imperial College London, of the German press agency.

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The WHO has already called on the British to dispense vaccination doses as soon as the elderly and vulnerable in the country have been vaccinated.

But the Johnson administration thinks little of that.

It is committed to supporting poorer countries, for example in the Covax initiative, but is determined to continue vaccinating its own population as soon as possible.

According to a report by Sky News, ministers who never tire of celebrating the vaccine from Oxford University and pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca as a “great British success” would have preferred to have the Union Jack, the British national flag, printed on its bottle.

"To portray that as a product of a single country is nationalism and not necessarily true," criticized the English family doctor Paul Williams in an interview with the broadcaster.

In some cases it even leads to people rejecting a Biontech vaccination because they want to wait for the "English vaccine".

The discontent with the “Britain First” strategy reached its peak when a dispute broke out with the EU, whose member states have so far been neglecting the Astrazeneca vaccine.

The group delivers significantly fewer cans to the continent in the first quarter of the year than initially expected.

According to reports, the UK's contract with Astrazeneca contains fairly clear arrangements that the vaccine made in the country will also be reserved for the country.

CEO Pascal Soriot said that the EU had just ordered its vaccine doses much later.

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Vaccination expert Majeed expects that the differences between Great Britain and the European countries will soon even out - namely when more vaccine becomes available and Great Britain has to distribute the second doses.

But also from an epidemiological point of view, the British offensive is not without risk: In order to immunize more people more quickly, the country is setting the interval between the first and second vaccination dose, which is necessary for full protection, at an interval of twelve weeks.

While this is now considered scientifically proven with the Astrazeneca vaccine, it is different with the agent from Biontech and Pfizer.

The manufacturer recommends an interval of three to four weeks.

That it goes well anyway is more hope than science.

There is a risk that sufficient immunity will not develop in the meantime and that new mutations will arise more easily, said Majeed of Imperial College London.

If it had been up to him, his country would have followed Biontech's recommendation.

In addition, contrary to what is common in Germany, the British do not put back the second dose for the person in question at the first spade, but trust that the supply chains will remain stable and that sufficient doses will be available later.

It remains to be seen whether this will come true.

A few days ago from Scotland it was said that the speed of vaccination might have to be slowed down slowly - because the Biontech / Pfizer funds are at least temporarily in short supply.

"This is not a moment to relax," emphasized Johnson.

"The danger remains very real."

However, his goals remain ambitious: by the end of April, all Brits over 50 years of age should receive the first saving spades.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210215-99-454682 / 2

Latest UK government vaccination figures

"Sky News" report