Health Secretary Matt Hancock hailed the 'national success story' and reiterated that it was 'our way out of this pandemic'. It comes a day after the vaccine drive hit a record high after 660,276 doses were dished out in 24 hours. Despite the promising week, the NHS is gearing up for a significant shortage of vaccine doses next month due to supply issues in India. Another Imperial scientist today said it was 'unrealistic to imagine the first dose roll-out will be as fast'. But it then plummeted to just nine per cent in the first week of March, when only 200,000 people out of 2.2million were given the Pfizer jab.

Source: The Nation March 20, 2021 12:00 UTC