Nearly 2m more are told to shield
ALMOST two million more people are to be told to shield to protect themselves from serious side-effects from Covid-19, officials have said.
A new tool has identified those who are at high risk of severe disease or death.
As a result, 1.7 million additional people in England will be sent letters asking them to shield.
Around 2.2 million people are currently on the list in England, which will expand to almost four million when the additional people are included.
More than 800,000 of these are aged 19 to 69 and will be prioritised for the vaccination programme, the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed.
It comes as new evidence suggests that the Covid-19 vaccination programme is working as increasing numbers of people are showing protective antibodies in their blood.
Antibodies – disease fighting proteins made by the body’s immune system – are present in a person’s blood when they have built up some level of immunity through a previous infection or have received a vaccine.
New Office for National Statistics data show an increasing proportion of people across the UK have antibodies in their blood.
An estimated one in five adults in England have antibodies, compared with one in seven in Wales and Northern Ireland, and an estimated one in nine in Scotland.
Antibodies can take a couple of weeks after vaccination to show up.
So those vaccinated first – including those over the age of 80 – will be among the first to show antibodies through blood tests.
In England, 40.9% of people aged 80 and over tested positive for antibodies. In Wales the figure was 12.7% and in Scotland 11.6%.
Meanwhile, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said preliminary evidence on the effect of vaccines on coronavirus transmission is “really encouraging” but suggested the full data may not be available for weeks.
Mr Zahawi said early research from Oxford University has been promising but cited “two big studies” on the impact of vaccines on Covid-19 – the Vivaldi study on care home residents and staff, and the Siren research on healthcare workers – as being important.
“We’ve got to make sure that you bring down the infection rates, hence why we’re waiting to see the data on transmission. The Oxford team had some early data which is really encouraging on transmission, which has to be peer-reviewed,” Mr Zahawi told Times Radio.
But he stressed it is currently uncertain how much of the reduction in infections being seen is down to lockdown restrictions or the vaccine rollout, and suggested the full research may not be available for a number of weeks.
The Government said a further 799 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday, bringing the UK total to 118,195.