‘We are a petri dish’: world watches UK’s race between vaccine and virus

Analysis: UK stands alone in pitting advanced vaccination programme against fast-spreading Delta variant

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Not for the first time in the coronavirus pandemic, the UK finds itself in a unique position. Through a combination of history, biology, mathematics and politics, the country stands alone in pitting an advanced vaccination programme against a substantial wave of Covid driven almost entirely by the fast-spreading Delta variant.

Nowhere in the world is the race between vaccination and virus more keenly watched than here.