[vegannet]

My understanding was always that AZ had capacity to produce many billions of doses by year (2021) end, and already had a large supply ready to go: is it possible that “first week of January” is referring specifically to the number of doses that can be administered by then which is limited by more than supply? Distribution, appointments etc. And if so, could we see the second week of January jump substantially? Access to just 500k doses would be a significant shift from the expectations that have been shared so far.

[nsteel]

In Johnson's press conference just now they said the number of vaccinations was entirely limited by the available supply, not the ability to administer it, nor the distribution of it. They were explicit about this.

[vegannet]

That’s a shame, back in November AZ said:

“Where we stand today is we have four million doses available right now and we've got enough active that we think we will be able to make a further 15 million available to the UK by the end of this year. Subject to regulatory approval, it could actually be 19 million doses by the end of this year (to the UK)."

That seems like something has clearly gone wrong, if more than a month ago they were in that position and now we are so limited by available dosage.

[kingosticks]

Is it possible that some of what was said was aimed at getting approval? Could another country have swooped in and reserved some of the supply?

[nsteel]

There's more info at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55500238

> There are thought to be more than five million doses of the Oxford vaccine in the UK, but only just over 500,000 are ready for use.

> That is because vaccines have to be put into vials and batched and certified.

> Sources at the NHS expressed frustration at the situation. "The NHS is ready to go, but we can only go as quickly as supply allows," one said.