A record 400,000 Britons got their coronavirus vaccinations on Thursday as the NHS drive gathers steam for the third day in a row.
The Government is aiming to get jabs into the arms of 15million in the most at risk groups by mid-February. This means they will need to inoculate about 350,000 a day, a target that was yesterday exceeded.
Early figures from NHS England published today show 359,563 got either their first or second dose on January 21. In Wales almost 22,000 got their jab on the same day, while Scotland says it inoculated 23,800.
In total more than 5.6million Britons had received the vaccine by January 21.
The numbers will be updated later today when the official statistics are published on the Government’s coronavirus dashboard, which will include all jabs done yesterday.
But they are a promising sign the rollout is ramping up, amid concern problems with supply could lead to the operation being slowed due to a lack of doses.
It comes as No10 today slapped down Tory calls for a ‘road map’ out of the national shutdown despite the R number dropping below the critical level of one while separate figures show cases have halved in a fortnight.
Downing Street defied mounting anger from MPs and more evidence the outbreak has peaked, warning the NHS is still under huge pressure and the curbs will only be lifted when it is ‘safe.
Boris Johnson has pointedly refused to rule out the draconian restrictions lasting into the summer, while ministers seem focused on ramping up border controls and boosting bailouts.
But the Prime Minister is coming under massive pressure to lay out an exit timetable, with the 70-strong Covid Recovery Group of Conservative MPs urging the government to start lifting the lockdown no later than March 8 – when vaccines given to the most vulnerable groups should have taken effect.
A total of 5,100,475 Covid-19 vaccinations had taken place in England between December 8 and January 21, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 359,897 on Thursday’s figures.
Of this number, 4,661,293 were the first dose of the vaccine, a rise of 357,563 on Thursday’s figures, while 439,182 were the second dose, an increase of 2,334.
Public Health Wales said a total of 212,317 first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine had now been given, an increase of 21,882 on the previous day’s figure.
The agency say 415 second doses were also given, an increase of 19.
In total, 30.2% of those aged over 80 have received their first dose of the vaccine, along with 59.9% of care home residents and 69.8 per cent of care home staff.
Health minister Vaughan Gething previously said he expected 70 per cent of the over-80s, care home residents and care home staff to have received their first jab by January 25.
Public Health Scotland said 358,454 people in the country had received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by 8.30am on Friday January 22, an increase of 23,583 from the previous day.
It added that 4,689 people have received the second dose, an increase of 223.
In a dramatic sign that Britain’s outbreak could be flattening out, SAGE said the R rate was between 0.8 and 1. That is down sharply from last week, when it was between 1.2 and 1.3. The number represents how many people an infected individual passes the disease on to, and anything below one means the outbreak is shrinking.
Separate data show cases have halved in a fortnight, although a million people were infected, and deaths in London are falling. Mr Johnson is leading a press conference this evening, and could reveal that the number of people given vaccines have topped five million, with the rollout speeding up.
But there is little evidence the brutal squeeze will be loosened any time soon, despite grim figures showing business activity has plunged even more than expected during the lockdown this month, leaving the UK looking down the barrel of a double dip recession.
The government borrowed more than £34billion in December – the third highest monthly total ever – as it scrambles to keep millions of jobs and stricken firms afloat while tax revenues dwindle.
Instead Cabinet ministers are embroiled in an unseemly squabble over whether to pump up financial support further and toughen rules at UK borders.
A leaked plan from Matt Hancock’s Department of Health would see everyone who tests positive for coronavirus given £500 in cash to self-isolate.
The idea, which could cost half a billion pounds a week, is meant to bolster low levels of compliance – but officials at Rishi Sunak’s Treasury branded it ‘bonkers’, while No10 effectively disowned the proposal, saying the PM had not seen it.
Meanwhile, the powerful Covid O Cabinet committee is due to made a decision on introducing ‘quarantine hotels’ next week – with all arrivals potentially forced to isolate for 10 days at airports in a bid to prevent more Covid ‘super-strains’ being imported.