Vaccine: 600,000 Brits receive jab in single day

The Government has said it can “absolutely guarantee” its programme of vaccine delivery as authorities race to vaccinate the top four priority groups by February 15 amid a row with the European Union over vaccine supplies. International Trade Secretary Liz Truss made the pledge when asked if she could guarantee that everyone who had had the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will get their second dose. Ms Truss said: “The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) has spoken to Ursula von der Leyen.”

Ms Truss added: “She has even very clear that those contractual supplies will not be disrupted.

“That’s a very important assurance and, of course, we also have our UK-produced vaccines as well, and if you look at our vaccine pipeline, 367 million doses, we have a significant supply to be able to vaccinate the UK population.”

The flow of vaccines was thrown into disarray after the EU passed a regulation telling customs agents to block exports of Covid vaccines to many richer countries – including the UK – unless they receive an expert authorisation.

The implications of the ban, which took effect on Saturday, are so far unclear, although the Prime Minister’s assurance from Ms Von der Leyen is seemingly good news for the UK’s continued supply of the vaccine. 

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How many people have had the Covid vaccine?

In the last week, 358,297 vaccinations were carried out on average every day.

The rate of vaccination has been steadily increasing as the Government has expanded capacity by 76 percent every week on average over the past four weeks.

As it stands, more than 7.8million people have now received a first dose of a vaccine, and more than 470,000 people have had a second.

This progress means the UK continues to be among the countries with the highest rates of vaccination globally.

The mid-February target involves offering a first dose to all people in the top four priority groups, which starts with residents in care homes and their carers as well as those aged 80 and over.

New data published by NHS England suggests 80 percent of these people received their first dose by January 24.

But the picture varies widely depending on where in the UK you read.

Gloucestershire has vaccinated 91.1 percent of its over 80s while south east London and east London have immunised a little over 60 percent.

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There are also variations in vaccination rates among ethnic groups in England as well.

NHS England data also reveals 9.7 percent of the White population was given the first dose, compared to 5.7 percent within ethnic minorities.

The figures don’t, however, take into account variations in the number of elderly people present among the different community groups.

Concerns around vaccine hesitancy were raised by the Government’s scientific advisers in a document released earlier this month.

The document shows less than half of Black adults have said they are likely to have a vaccine, which according to a survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), is the lowest among all the groups.

Oxford University researchers have also estimated lower vaccination rates among ethnic minorities.

The team from ‘OpenSAFELY’ analysed 961,580 people who took the vaccine within the first five weeks and found the 42.5 percent of elderly White people had their first dose, compared to 20.5 percent of Black people aged 80 and over.

The study also looked at vaccination rates in deprived areas of the country and found that 37.9 percent of those over 80s in England’s most deprived areas had received a jab compared to 44.7 percent in more affluent regions.

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