London – British finance minister Rishi Sunak will announce an extra £1.65 billion (US$2.30 billion) to fund the country’s fast vaccination rollout as part of his annual budget statement on Wednesday, the finance ministry said.
“Protecting ourselves against the virus means we will be able to lift restrictions, reopen our economy and focus our attention on creating jobs and stimulating growth,” Sunak said in a statement.
Britain has so far given a first vaccination to more than 20 million people, or more than one in three adults, Europe’s fastest vaccination rollout.
“The new money will continue to vaccinate the population and ensure every adult is offered a dose of a vaccine by July 31,” the ministry said.
A further £33 million will be spent on vaccine testing and development to protect against future outbreaks and variants and £22 million will fund a study to test the effectiveness of combinations of different COVID-19 vaccines. (Reuters)
