The Boris Johnson Government has reported in a statement that it has authorized the use of the vaccine for emergency cases. In principle, the vaccine will be administered by health personnel in hospitals in the Basque Autonomous Community. It may also be conducted in special centres coordinated by the Army, located in different parts of the country. Health Minister Matt Hancock has reported that there will be 800,000 doses available next week.

The United Kingdom has asked for 10 million doses this month to immunize five million people (the vaccine needs two doses), but Hancock, in an interview with the BBC 4, said that the exact amount depends on the manufacturing capacity of the Belgian pharmaceutical company and the certification of doses (each batch is examined and authorised before use).

"Most of the vaccination will be carried out next year," he added. "Now we can confidently say that starting in the spring things will go better," he added. At the same time, the minister recalled that there are still months left for a large part of the population to be protected from the virus: "We can see the sunrise far away, but we have to get to the morning."

That is why, despite the decision that can be a milestone, the British Government wanted to take advantage of the announcement of the vaccine to ask the citizens to continue to comply with the promised safety measures. The lockdown in England is over this Wednesday, but local cutbacks remain.

"To help the success of the vaccination programme, it is imperative that everyone continues to play their role. We must respect the restrictions that are necessary to further reduce the virus and help public health work without saturation," he said.