Almost half of all adults aged 25 to 29 in England and a third of those aged 18 to 24 have received their first dose of a coronavirus jab, according to the vaccines minister.
Nadhim Zahawi defended the Government’s decision to delay the final stage of the road map, as he said the additional four weeks to July 19 would give the NHS more time to get “those remaining jabs in arms”.
Referring to younger adults coming forward to be vaccinated, he told the press conference: “The enthusiasm is making a huge difference.
“We have already given first doses to almost half of all 25 to 29-year-olds in England and only a week after the programme opened to all adults on Friday, one-third of people aged between 18 and 24 have had their first dose.
“To all of the young people who have stepped up, I want to say a huge thank you. You have protected yourself, you have protected your families, and you have protected your communities.”
He told the press conference: “Our mission is now to get as many people protected as we can and to protect them as quickly as we can.
“Last week we took the difficult but I think essential decision to pause Step 4 in our road map for four weeks with a review of the data after two weeks – and we will absolutely have that review and share the data with the nation.
“We’re going to use these four weeks to give our NHS that bit more time so we can get those remaining jabs in arms of those who really do need them.”
Mr Zahawi’s optimism about the vaccine rollout comes as latest figures show that six in 10 adults in the UK are estimated to have received both doses.
A total of 31,740,115 second doses have been delivered since the programme began in December last year – the equivalent of 60.3% of all people aged 18 and over.
3 in 5 adults have now had both jabs of the #covid19 vaccine ??????
We’ve come a long way since that first approved jab, but 75 million doses later it’s more important than ever that, when you get the text, you get the jab ?➡️? pic.twitter.com/LGDhYRW3N4
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) June 23, 2021
As of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 16,135 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK – the highest reported daily toll since February 6.
The Government also said a further 19 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus, bringing the UK total to 128,027.
It comes as ministers face criticism over plans to allow more than 60,000 fans into Wembley Stadium for the European Championship at the same time as lockdown restrictions continue for the public.
Culture minister John Whittingdale defended the Government’s decision of allowing crowds to attend the Euro 2020 semi-finals and final, in the largest gatherings at a sporting event for the last 15 months.
All ticket-holders for the games at Wembley will need to show evidence of a negative Covid-19 test or proof of two doses of a vaccine.
Mr Whittingdale told BBC Breakfast “now is the right time” to test bigger events and that discussions continue with Uefa over allowing VIPs such as politicians and sponsors to come to the UK without having to quarantine.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If we live in a society which tells us ‘well, it’s fine for 60,000 people to meet at Wembley’, it’s very hard at the same time to say to people, ‘look, there’s still a pandemic out there, and we’ve still got to be careful’.”
