Britain defends spacing out COVID-19 shots

A single dose of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine may provide good protection from the virus for up to 12 weeks, according to a study released by Oxford University. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Wednesday said the data support the government’s controversial strategy of delaying the second dose so more people could get the first one.

Is that new strain still spreading? Britain is under its third national lockdown after scientists identified a homegrown variant of the virus that is more contagious. The country has also identified 105 cases of a second variant from South Africa. The Netherlands extended its lockdown for another month out of concern for the mutated viruses, even though overall infections have been declining, The Swedish government banned any foreigners from entering the country unless they had tested negative for the virus in the past 48 hours.

Dig deeper: Read Sophia Lee’s report about California’s bumpy effort to roll out COVID-19 vaccines.