Analysis

Boris Johnson tars vaccination triumph with hotel quarantine quagmire

The former journalist-turned-PM faces two deadlines on February 15. He’s approaching one of them with flair, with the other he’s flailing.

Hans van LeeuwenEurope correspondent

Feb 12, 2021 – 11.18am

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London | British Prime Minister Boris Johnson should be celebrating this weekend. After a year of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in a manner generally seen as careening between indifference, indecision and incompetence, he really has something to crow about.

He had set a target of vaccinating about 15 million people by February 15 – a stretchy target for a government that had struggled for months with test and trace, and with lockdown timing and enforcement. But he’s disproved the doubters.

Hans van Leeuwen covers British and European politics, economics and business from London. He has worked as a reporter, editor and policy adviser in Sydney, Canberra, Hanoi and London.