COVID-19: How vaccine rollout is faring in the US, UK and Canada

With Pfizer bringing out first ever Coronavirus vaccination shots, the supply has begun for the UK, the US and Canada. While the administration of vaccines has started in the United Kingdom, the US is also starting to provide vaccination to people shortly. Canada too has the approval for Coronavirus vaccination. It is to note that all three countries have different healthcare systems, therefore, their vaccine rollout and administration among people is expected to vary. What is same among the three countries is that for now, they all have given approvals for Pfizer- BioNTech’s vaccine. After a nod is Britain, the vaccine is expected to get approval across European Union. However, majority supply of vaccines in Europe is expected to be covered by Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield in the next few weeks.

According to a report by The IE, the centralisation of rollout is different in the UK, US and Canada. While Britain has completely centralised rollout, it is somewhat there in Canada and the United States, do not have centralisation. Britain (central government) has said that the National Health Service will cover all people living there as the country started a vaccination drive last week. So far, 50 hospitals have been chosen by the government that would initiate the process.

Coming to the United States, the Trump administration left most of the decision-making to the states. The federal government will determine the distribution of vaccines to each state depending on the population and not need. At the same time, there are some states who have highlighted that they are not aware about the arrangements enough. Canada on the other hand, does have a universal health care system similar to Britain but its government is federal like the United States. Therefore, the health care system is decentralized and administered by the provinces and territories.

As far as vaccine candidates are concerned, Canada has ordered Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the country’s whole population. This vaccine will cover 30 per cent people in Britain and 15 per cent in the United States. Notably, the vaccine is of a new kind and needs ultracold storage. This implies that the management is more expensive when compared to its competitors (that are not approved for distributions by health boards as of now). Further, Pfizer shots have to be kept in an extremely cold storage-minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit- which many health care facilities aren’t equipped to handle.