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Summary
- In a first, Britain has registered over 15 million people for vaccination with the first jab of Covid-19 vaccine.
- The first four priority groups set out by the government have received the first dose of vaccine within the stipulated time frame.
British PM Boris Johnson announced on Sunday, 14 February, that the national vaccination programme had reached a significant milestone after more than 15 million people having received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine. He said that Britain was on track to achieve its desired target, which is expected to be announced officially on Monday.
The British government had set out a target of 15 million vaccinated people by 15 February among the top four priority categories. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) identified first four target groups -- care home residents, frontline health and social care workers, people above the age of 70 years and clinically extremely vulnerable people.
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With approximately 435,000 people per day receiving their jabs over the past week across the UK, the NHS vaccine programme has been recorded as the fastest in Europe and the England became the first nation to achieve the remarkable target of 15 million.
The PM appreciated the efforts made by the NHS and people and hailed the extraordinary achievement in just over two months after the first jab of the Covid-19 vaccine was administered on 8 December.
Johnson said the overall target had been met in England, without mentioning about Scotland or Northern Ireland. While Wales had announced that it had achieved its target on 13 February.
As per the government data, the daily coronavirus figures revealed 15,062,189 people had received an initial vaccine dose on Sunday, after 505,362 first jabs were rolled out on Saturday. Also, a total of 537,715 second doses had also been given.
However, Johnson said it is a long way to go and no one is resting on their laurels. He also added that there will undoubtedly be bumps in the road, but after all that had been achieved, he was pretty sure that the nation could move forward with great confidence. The rollout of Covid-19 jabs is now being moved on to cover those aged above 65 years group.
Related Read: UK government urges those over 70 to take Covid-19 jabs
Next level
The success of the vaccination programme has led to people urging the UK government to ease the prolonged lockdowns. A third, complete stay-at-home lockdown was imposed on 5 January and Johnson is expected to make an announcement on 22 February regarding the government’s next steps.
