<p>More than 600,000 people in the United Kingdom have received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine since inoculations began in the country earlier this month, the British government said on Thursday.</p>.<p>"The government has today published figures which show the number of people who have received the vaccine between 8 December and 20 December in the UK is 616,933," the Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement.</p>.<p>Earlier this month, the United Kingdom became the first country in the world to roll out the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech.</p>.<p>In all, Britain has ordered 40 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that he expects to receive millions of doses by the end of the year.</p>.<p>Vaccines have been administered to care home residents, those aged 80 and over and health and social care staff through over 500 vaccination sites, the government said.</p>.<p>British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc submitted a full data package about its Covid-19 vaccine to the UK's medicines regulator, Hancock said on Wednesday.</p>.<p>Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency Chief Executive June Raine told Reuters on Thursday the regulator started its analysis of the data and will make a decision in the "shortest time possible."</p>.<p>Separately, a spokesman for the Health Department told Reuters that some staff at the Milton Keynes testing lab, the UK's biggest, tested positive for Covid-19.</p>.<p>A new variant of the coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in Britain recently with huge swathes of England being placed under its strictest Covid-19 restrictions.</p>.<p>The mutation known as the B.1.1.7 lineage may be up to 70% more infectious and more of a concern for children. It has sown chaos in Britain, prompting a wave of travel bans that are disrupting trade with Europe and threatening to further isolate the island country.</p>
<p>More than 600,000 people in the United Kingdom have received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine since inoculations began in the country earlier this month, the British government said on Thursday.</p>.<p>"The government has today published figures which show the number of people who have received the vaccine between 8 December and 20 December in the UK is 616,933," the Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement.</p>.<p>Earlier this month, the United Kingdom became the first country in the world to roll out the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech.</p>.<p>In all, Britain has ordered 40 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that he expects to receive millions of doses by the end of the year.</p>.<p>Vaccines have been administered to care home residents, those aged 80 and over and health and social care staff through over 500 vaccination sites, the government said.</p>.<p>British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc submitted a full data package about its Covid-19 vaccine to the UK's medicines regulator, Hancock said on Wednesday.</p>.<p>Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency Chief Executive June Raine told Reuters on Thursday the regulator started its analysis of the data and will make a decision in the "shortest time possible."</p>.<p>Separately, a spokesman for the Health Department told Reuters that some staff at the Milton Keynes testing lab, the UK's biggest, tested positive for Covid-19.</p>.<p>A new variant of the coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in Britain recently with huge swathes of England being placed under its strictest Covid-19 restrictions.</p>.<p>The mutation known as the B.1.1.7 lineage may be up to 70% more infectious and more of a concern for children. It has sown chaos in Britain, prompting a wave of travel bans that are disrupting trade with Europe and threatening to further isolate the island country.</p>