U.K. Defense Secretary: Military Ready to Deliver 100,000 Vaccine Doses a Day

Britain’s armed forces could administer 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine a day if required, helping immunize millions of vulnerable people before the spring, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday.

Wallace said he had already authorized 130 military planners and personnel to work with the health service on ramping up the vaccine rollout, and more staff could be used to administer the vaccine itself.

“I’ve also got plans for up to 250 teams of mobile medically trained personnel who could go out and administer the vaccine around the country – that would be over 100,000 a day they could potentially deliver if that is requested by the NHS (National Health Service),” he told Times Radio.

Britain approved a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca on Wednesday, and will start using it on Monday in addition to the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine already in use.