Second vaccinations being delivered at an increasing pace

One in six UK adults are now vaccinated against Covid-19, with more than two million second doses delivered in the past seven days.

A total of 8.9m people – 17% of the adult population – have now received both jabs.

Wales is estimated to have given two doses to 22.8% of adults, some way ahead of Northern Ireland (17.2%), England (16.8%) and Scotland (15.5%).

Some 2.4m second doses were recorded in the seven days to April 15, compared with 1.6m, 1.9m and just under 1m in the previous three weeks.

Second doses of Covid19 vaccines must follow within 12 weeks of the first, meaning the millions of people who received their initial jab in January and early February have recently had a follow-up dose, or are due to get the jab shortly.

Figures released by NHS England on Thursday suggest around three-quarters of people in England aged 80 and over have had both doses of vaccine.

In Wales, 67% of people in this group are estimated to have had both jabs, with 72% in Scotland and 41% in Northern Ireland.

Wales leads the field with nearly 65.7% of its adult population having received the first jab, followed by England with 61.8%, Scotland with 61.4% and Northern Ireland with 58.5%.