Interview: UK expert urges joint efforts among countries to facilitate global vaccine rollout

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LONDON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- As the world continues to battle coronavirus, especially with the emergence of new variants, a British expert has called for joint efforts among countries to speed up global vaccine rollout.

"I think there's much, much more recognition in the last few weeks, that it's not over until everybody is vaccinated," Rory Horner, senior lecturer in Globalisation and Political Economy in the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Horner made the remarks as more than 13 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that Britain is "on track" to complete the vaccination of the top priority groups, which cover 15 million people, by mid-February.

Downing Street has confirmed that all British adults aged 50 and older are expected to be offered a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine by early May. Britain aims to offer all adults their first dose by autumn.

However, there is increasing fear that different strains of the virus could emerge in other parts of the world and take the vaccine development process back to stage one.

"And there's no point just vaccinating your own country, because otherwise you'll essentially have to live cut off from the rest of the world," Horner said.

According to Horner, Britain could look to cooperate with countries like China in speeding up global vaccine distribution, especially in the low- and middle-income countries.

Horner said countries like China are starting to roll out vaccines domestically but are also sharing vaccines with other countries "both through an aid basis and also through a commercial basis in selling them at very, very early stages in their own domestic vaccination program."

"You don't have to try and vaccinate all of your population first, before you start sharing and encouraging vaccination in low- and middle-income," Horner said.

According to Horner, anything that will reach especially low- and middle-income countries, because of the volume of population -- 75 percent of approx. of the world's population driven by low- and middle-income countries -- you'll need countries like China involved, "which have enormous economies of scale and production capacity".

"As the coronavirus has highlighted how globalized our world now is, and with the introduction of new coronavirus variants, Britain will need to hand countries from all over the world who can share information and ingredients for drugs," he said.

"Even if you want to promote domestic manufacturing more, you're still likely to need collaboration with suppliers elsewhere in the world for different ingredients for different technology for different know-how," he added.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The country is seeking to strengthen border control to prevent new coronavirus variants from entering the country.

From next Monday, arrivals from more than 30 "red list countries" must pay 1,750 pounds (about 2,419.9 U.S. dollars) for their own hotel quarantine, transport and testing in England.

Previously, Britain has banned all travel by non-British or Irish passengers from the "red list countries" where there is a risk of known variants. Those countries include South Africa, Portugal and South American nations.

The latest development came amid rising concerns over the spread of coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa. A trial has found the Oxford vaccine had limited efficacy against mild disease from the variant. Enditem

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