Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, Aug 23, 2025

UK COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Not Enough To Tackle Pandemic, Gradual Easing Needed, Lancet Study Warns

UK COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Not Enough To Tackle Pandemic, Gradual Easing Needed, Lancet Study Warns

Virologists from one of Britain's top medical journals conducted the analysis via a timeline from January 2021 to early 2024, before real-world data from vaccine rollout studies had been released.

The UK is unlikely to reach herd immunity via its COVID-19 vaccination rollout for adults without a cautious easing of lockdown measures, the Lancet Infections Diseases journal said on Thursday.

Britain should gradually release control measures along with an effective a vaccine rollout with high protection against COVID-19 to reduce future outbreaks, it said.

Such modelling suggested that vaccine rollouts for adults alone were "unlikely" to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the UK, University of Warwick professor Matt Keeling said in a statement.

“We also found that early sudden release of restrictions is likely to lead to a large wave of infection, whereas gradually easing measures over a period of many months could reduce the peak of future waves," he added.

The UK's vaccine rollout programme had been a "huge" success along with the UK government's roadmap to easing restrictions, the Lancet said, adding the measures were a "cause for optimism". But test and trace measures, hand hygiene and mask-wearing in high risk areas, among others, were also necessary "for some time", it added.

The UK currently ranks third globally for the number of vaccine doses administered, the study noted.

The modelling also assumed a vaccine uptake rate of 95 percent in people aged 80 and older, 85 percent from those aged 50 to 79 years and 75 percent for people aged 18 to 49 years, namely via phase 3 trial data from Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines in the UK's rollout programme.

Removing all restrictions before the UK's jab rollout had completed would likely lead to further waves of infections with "a substantial number of deaths", the study warned, adding even small rollbacks of measures could see large outbreaks.

A rollback of control measures in January 2022 would see 21,400 deaths due to COVID-19 if vaccines offer 85 percent efficacy, but would skyrocket to 96,700 with a 60 percent efficacy rate, it added.

The survey had suggested a higher level of protection against severe cases of the virus from Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca than previously assumed, University of Warwick's Dr Sam Moore said in a statement.

"This may reduce the size of future hospital admissions and deaths we estimated, making future waves more manageable for the health service. As for protection against infection, some preliminary findings have suggested that the vaccine does offer a level of protection against infection, but the exact level of protection offered by vaccines is still unclear," he said.

Dr Viola Priesemann from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation in Germany, who was not involved in the study, said that there were clear advantages to avoiding further waves of the pandemic via "wise" vaccine rollouts.

“The advantage of avoiding another pandemic wave is clear: less so-called long COVID-19, less quarantine, fewer deaths, and reducing the impact of the pandemic on societies and economies. Finally, more infections mean more scope for the spread and evolution of escape variants, which risk a major setback for any vaccination strategy, so avoiding this eventuality will be crucial,” he said in a statement.

To date, the UK has reported nearly 4.3m cases and over 126,000 deaths, according to figures from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
×