PM hails feat of 15m having first vaccine dose

LONDON: Boris Johnson has hailed a “significant milestone” as the number of people in the UK receiving a coronavirus vaccine passed 15 million.

The Prime Minister said it was an “extraordinary feat” just over two months after 91-year-old Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive a Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.

It puts the Government firmly on course to meet it target of offering a first dose to everyone in the the UK in its top four priority groups – including all over-70s – by Monday. In a video message posted on Twitter, Mr Johnson confirmed it had already been passed in England, while on Friday First Minister Mark Drakeford said it had been reached in Wales.

The Prime Minister said: “Today we have reached a significant milestone in the United Kingdom’s national vaccination programme. “This country has achieved an extraordinary feat – administering a total of 15 million jabs into the arms of some of the most vulnerable people in the country.”

The announcement paves the way for the rollout to be extended to the next five groups – including the over-50s – who are due to be completed by the end of April.

In England, 1.2 million letters have already gone out to 65 to 69 year-olds and the clinically vulnerable inviting them to book an appointment.

The news will also intensify the pressure on ministers to begin easing lockdown restrictions and re-opening the economy.

Meanwhile in Wales, where schools are due to begin re-opening to some pupils on February 22, Drakeford warned they could close again if there was a resurgence of the disease.

“The advice to us from our chief medical officer and scientists is that you should, in these early stages, always take measures that could be reversed quickly if you needed to do that,” he told Sky News.

“If there were to be unintended consequences of having three to seven-year-olds back into school, then, of course, we would be able to go into reverse.”

Despite the hopes among ministers that they will be able to begin a significant easing in England, scientists continue to warn that they could face another wave of the pandemic as bad as the current one if they go too fast.

During a visit to a vaccine manufacturing facility in Teesside on Saturday, Johnson said that while he was “optimistic” about the prospects they would have to study the data “very, very hard” as he did not want to be forced into a “reverse ferret”.