The rapid rollout of vaccines in the UK continues.
Children in the United Kingdom could start receiving the Covid-19 vaccine as early as August under provisional plans set out by the government, The Telegraph has reported.
According to the latest UK government data, 28,327,873 people have now received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while 2,363,684 people have now had their second jab. This comes as the Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke of reclaiming the nation’s “freedom” through science in a press conference on Tuesday.
#COVID19 VACCINE UPDATE: Daily figures on the number of people who have received a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK.
As of 23 March, 28,327,873 people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination.
Visit the @PHE_uk dashboard for more info:
▶️️ https://t.co/cQkuLQxWqz pic.twitter.com/WNLG40f33n— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) March 23, 2021
In a speech, Johnson said: “Cautiously but irreversibly, step by step, jab by jab, this country is on the path to reclaiming our freedom.”
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty also spoke of the importance of the rollout of the vaccine in the press conference.
“The vaccine programme continues to be very important for making sure that, as new surges happen, which they are likely to at some point, they will meet a wall of vaccinated people which will help to significantly reduce the ratio of people who catch the disease to the number of people who die from it,” Whitty said.
If the current vaccination rate – which is approximately three million first doses per week – stays the same in August, the majority of school children could receive the first Covid-19 vaccination before going back to school.
According to The Telegraph, the government are hopeful this could happen ahead of the Autumn term.
Whitty did warn, however, that there “will definitely be another surge at some point, whether it’s before winter or next winter, we don’t know”.
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