UK 'can't afford to relax now,' prime minister warns
As COVID-19 vaccinations were administered to high-risk groups of people across the United Kingdom on Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the nation "can't afford to relax now."
"It is important for people to understand that the virus is alas still rising in some parts of the country," Johnson said while visiting a newly-opened vaccination center in London.
When asked whether he would be receiving the shot, Johnson told reporters he is "not in the priority group" outlined by the government but that those who are eligible should get it.
"I would just say to all those who are scared, don't be," he said. "You see people take the vaccine this morning, in large numbers, people are going to be taking it in the next few days and weeks and there is nothing to be nervous about."
The United Kingdom -- made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland -- has the seventh-highest tally of COVID-19 infections in the world, with more than 1.7 million confirmed cases, including over 61,000 deaths, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University. The European island nation launched a mass immunization program on Tuesday, after authorizing emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.