All over 18s in the UK could have Covid vaccine by June
Senior government figures are hoping for every adult in the UK to have received their first Covid vaccine jab by the end of June in what would be a significant acceleration of the country’s rollout.
Downing Street is now reportedly working toward this target, with the aim of soon getting up to 5m people vaccinated a week.
Currently the government’s aim is to have offered a first Covid vaccine to all adults by September.
However, Whitehall sources told the Sunday Telegraph that the government believes the impending approval of two new jabs, from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, will significantly shorten this date.
A source said: “All over-18s by June – yes.”
“It is delivery, delivery, delivery.”
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab today downplayed the chance of having a full rollout by June, telling the BBC that the government is still aiming for September.
“The plan…is to get the 15m most vulnerable people vaccinated by the middle of February,” Raab said.
“We then want to get by early spring another 17m. By that point we’ll have 99 per cent of people most likely to die of coronavirus administered their first jab and then the entire adult population we want to be offered it by September.
“That’s the roadmap, we think we can have it done by then. If we can do it more swiftly than that, that’s a bonus.”
It comes as AstraZeneca and Pfizer are reportedly having supply issues and have had to delay delivery of some vaccines to the UK.
A government source told the Telegraph that this may mean the government’s target of vaccinating the 15m most vulnerable by 15 February is in doubt.
“It remains tight, very tight for our targets,” they said.
“It was always ambitious, massively ambitious.”
As of Friday the UK had vaccinated 3.56m people.
The rollout will be aided by a further 10 mass vaccination centres, which will open next week.