No evidence drinking alcohol would affect COVID-19 vaccines

There is no evidence that drinking alcohol after having a coronavirus jab would affect how it works, the British medicine regulator said Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

The response by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) came following social media reports that people should abstain from drinking for up to two weeks after getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

"There is currently no evidence that drinking alcohol interferes with the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines," a spokeswoman for the MHRA told the PA news agency.

"We would advise anyone concerned about this to talk to their healthcare professional."

Another 1,946 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,423,796, according to official figures released Tuesday.

The country also reported another four coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 127,543. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

More than 34.6 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

Experts have warned that despite progress in vaccine rollout, Britain is "still not out of the woods" amid concerns over new variants, particularly those first emerged in South Africa, Brazil and India, and the third wave of pandemic on the European continent.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.