The really wonderful thing about the AstraZeneca vaccine is that the first jab provides nearly all of the protection you get from two jabs while allowing a 12 week interval between the first and the second one.
This means a population can race towards herd immunity using the first jab, and then follow up with the second having achieved it. A bit like the J&J one jab idea but with better efficacy after the second dose.
5 UK deaths per day demonstrates how well the AZ vaccine combats the virus. The risk of blood clots is very, very small so only makes sense as an argument in groups that have almost no vulnerability to covid. But for such people, there is no rush and they can happily use one of the least bloodclotty vaccines.
I hope the AZ vaccine, which is very cheap and is stored in normal hospital refrigerators, can get exported to the many countries that need it.
| 