WE’LL DO HALF A MILLION JABS A DAY
With 3m now vaccinated, ministers vow to ramp up delivery by next week
The number of vaccines being delivered could hit more than half a million a day next week as Boris Johnson fulfils his pledge to ramp up delivery.
A document published by the Scottish government – but then removed – suggests as many as 3.8 million people could be vaccinated next week in the UK.
This would indicate a doubling of the current vaccination rate and comes as health Secretary Matt hancock announced Britain had passed the 3 million mark in total.
Yesterday the Daily Mail revealed the UK had a stockpile of about 21 million jabs to give out – easily enough to meet the Government’s pledge to vaccinate older and clinically vulnerable people by spring.
Last night, NhS england said an extra 248,177 vaccinations had taken place on January 13 – taking the total to 2,910,027 for england alone. Of these, 2,494,371 were the first dose of the vaccine – a rise of 239,815 on Wednesday’s figures – while 415,656 were the second dose – an increase of 8,362.
But the document suggests this will be dramatically exceeded next week, when Scotland is due to receive 309,382 doses. If deliveries are evenly spread across the country, this would equate to 3.8 million – more than 500,000 a day.
By the end of February, production will have ramped up further with Scotland receiving 443,531 doses a week, suggesting 5.4 million will be delivered to the UK.
But the document shows that in some weeks, the supply of vaccines will drastically fall – slowing down the rollout. A Government source told The Times the figures in the document are a ‘reasonable bestcase scenario’.
‘[They] suggest that we are easily going to meet our target, but there isn’t a lot of headroom there. Things can go wrong.’
The UK Government has repeatedly refused to publish the figures amid concerns other nations will ‘gazump’ the UK and put pressure on vaccine manufacturers if they know how much is being deployed on a weekly basis.
‘It’s insane,’ a Government source said. ‘The figures were given to the Scottish government in strictest confidence. It could undermine the entire programme.’
Under phase one of the vaccination programme, all over-50s and people with serious health conditions will receive the jab.
Ministers have promised that by the middle of February, the top four of the nine groups in phase one will have been vaccinated. It is hoped everyone in phase one will have received the jab by the spring.
Mr Johnson tweeted: ‘Superb news that we’ve administered over 3 million vaccine doses across the UK. Thank you to all who have responded to the call.’
The Government said 2,000 people in crucial roles in the Covid-19 vaccine supply chain will be offered jabs – a move designed to help ensure there is an uninterrupted flow of doses. AstraZeneca workers will receive the vaccine imminently following a last-minute change of heart by the Department of health.