How did Boris Johnson get COVID vaccines so right?

What a difference a few weeks have made.

Mr. Johnson’s government can take some credit. Britain controversially opted out of the E.U.’s voluntary vaccination scheme back in July, and the lumbering rollout on the Continent has vindicated that decision. The British government was prompt in ordering the Pfizer and Astra-Zeneca vaccines, and its national regulator was the first in the world to approve both. The country has also been able to accelerate the rate of first doses by allowing up to 12 weeks between jabs, while most countries strive for only three.

But this success also belongs to the National Health Service, which entered the pandemic already struggling under 10 years of Conservative austerity. Famously called the “the closest thing the English people have to a national religion,” by Nigel Lawson, a Conservative lawmaker, trust in the N.H.S. is high, and so is vaccine uptake: A recent study found that more than 8 in 10 adults were willing to have the vaccine. And the N.H.S.’s reach means there is a vaccine center within about 10 miles of almost every Briton’s home.