UK hits ‘significant milestone’ as 25m people receive their first Covid jab
More than 25m people in the UK have now received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, official figures have shown, in a major boost for hopes of a return to normality on the horizon.
A total of 25,273,226 have been given either the Pfizer or the Astrazeneca vaccine, while a further 1,759,445 people have received their second dose, according to Public Health England.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the figure, saying: “This latest milestone is an incredible achievement — representing 25m reasons to be confident for the future as we cautiously reopen society.
“Thank you once again to the brilliant NHS, scientists, armed forces, volunteers, and all those who’ve helped our rollout.”
It means the UK now has the third highest vaccination rate per 100 people of any country in the world, behind Israel and the US.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said the achievement marked an “extraordinary feat, coming exactly 100 days after Margaret Keenan received the first authorised jab in the whole world.”
“We’re ahead of schedule to offer a first dose to all in these groups by the 15 April and I urge everybody eligible to come forward,” Hancock added.
Data released yesterday showed around one in three people across the country are estimated to have coronavirus antibodies either from past infection or vaccination.
It marks a dramatic increase from about one in 10 at the start of December, suggesting the UK’s rapid vaccine rollout is beginning to take effect among the population. At the last count in early March, one in four people in England were thought to have Covid antibodies.
The business secretary said this morning that half of all adults in Britain will have received their first Covid jab by the end of the week.
Kwasi Kwarteng told BBC Breakfast: “I think by the end of the week 50 per cent of the British adult population will have been vaccinated, and if people get the call I think they should take the jab.”
The government’s official target is to offer a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine to all adults in the UK by 31 July at the latest, however health officials have hinted that Britain will likely be vaccinated sooner.
A recent surge in supply means all remaining over-50s are set to be offered a Covid-19 vaccine in the coming days, with as many as 5m jabs likely to be given out this week — more than twice the rate seen in March so far.
It comes as the EU this afternoon accelerated a bitter despite over dose shortages on the bloc by threatening to block vaccine exports to the UK and other countries with high vaccination rates.
European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen announced the bloc was facing “the crisis of this century”, warning that the EU “will have to reflect on how to make exports to vaccine-producing countries, depending on their level of openness” if supplies did not improve.
“We will reflect on whether exports to countries who have higher vaccination rates than us are still proportionate,” she added.
Just 8.5 per cent of Europeans have received their first dose of a Covid vaccine, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker, compared to around 37 per cent of people in Britain.
The EU this afternoon unveiled plans to introduce vaccine passports later this year in a bid to resume international travel.
Brits who can prove they have received both doses of a Covid vaccine, can provide proof of antibodies or can show details of a negative test, will be able to travel to Europe from June under the scheme.