Any easing of restrictions would depend on the success of the vaccine and tier system, however.
With almost 80% of England set to enter 2021 in Tier 4, the year isn’t exactly set to start on the front foot. Still, with two vaccines now approved for use in the UK, there’s a smidge of hope on the horizon, and today Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave his verdict on when we could see life return to something like normal. Speaking to ITV’s Robert Peston in an interview, the PM said that – depending on how successful the vaccines and tier system is – the UK’s coronavirus restrictions could be eased by April.
The April easing would “depend on how fast we can get the virus under control, with tough tiering, with testing and with rolling out the vaccination programme”, Johnson said. The rollout of the Oxford vaccine is set to begin on Monday, and it’s hoped that the nationwide vaccination program will kick into a higher gear with the newly-approved (and easier to distribute) treatment now available. Plus, between the Pfizer jab and the Oxford vaccine, the UK has enough doses of the vaccine in order to vaccinate the whole nation.
Johnson isn’t the only one expressing such a hope; Sir Simon Stephens, the chief executive of the NHS, has already said that 22 million people could be vaccinated by the spring, thus allowing life to get back to normal quicker. We’re keeping everything crossed that they’re right…