Tony Blair urges Britons to ‘live with’ coronavirus as he compares new strain to flu

Joe Biden: President-elect receives Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine

The former Labour Prime Minister penned an article warning the mutated strain of coronavirus shows “we can’t eradicate this virus” and urged Boris Johnson to adapt the vaccine plan. Mr Blair added COVID-19 “may change like the flu” and could need “constant adjustment in combating it”. London and large parts of the South East were thrown into Tier 4 restrictions on Saturday after a new strain of the virus had spread rapidly across the country.

Writing in the Independent, Mr Blair said the current vaccination strategy could lead to “constant lockdown” until enough Brits have had the jab.

World Health Organisation experts have pointed to a 65 percent to 70 percent vaccine coverage rate as a way to reach herd immunity through the jabs.

Citing the mutated strain detected across the South East, the former Prime Minister said the current vaccine plan “must be altered or radically accelerated”, adding “much of the country will not be vaccinated until spring or summer.”

He said: “The economic and health damage, physical and mental, caused by such a timetable will be colossal.”

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Mr Blair accepted the pandemic “is the most difficult challenge ever faced by government”, but also said more vaccines need to be used as they are available.

He said: “We should consider using all the available doses in January as first doses, that is, not keeping back half for second doses. Then, as more production is rolled out, we will have enough for the second dose.

“Thirty million Johnson and Johnson vaccines – which is a one-dose vaccine – should also be with us by end of January. We should aim to use them all in February.

“We should continue to prioritise frontline health staff and the most vulnerable, but let this not hold up vaccinating others.”

It comes as NHS leaders have raised fears about the rollout of coronavirus vaccines, with more than half of hospital trusts and two-thirds of GPs yet to receive supplies for the jab.

Dr Richard Vautrey, the chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said to the Guardian the government needs to speed up the delivery of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

He added: “We need millions of doses to be made available as soon as possible – urgently – because it’s the number one priority for GP practices, our patients and the nation, especially given the new mutant strain.

“GPs who haven’t got it yet are frustrated because they want to be getting on and vaccinating their patients as well. Their frustration is understandable.”

Mr Johnson on Saturday claimed more than 500,000 people have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine since December 8.

Yesterday saw the UK record a further 36,804 cases and 691 deaths, for a total of 2,110,314 and 68,307 respectively.

The new variant of coronavirus was first detected in September, and is believed by experts to be up to 70 percent more transmissible.

Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, said on Saturday: “There is no current evidence to suggest the new variant causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments although urgent work is underway to confirm this.”