More than one in five of all British adults have now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as the UK’s jabs rollout continues to focus on getting second doses to the most vulnerable groups.
Nearly all the over-70s, health workers and those who were told to shield are likely to have had their second dose by the end of next week. And within days, the proportion of the whole population who have had at least one dose will pass 50 per cent.
A total of 10,775,817 people have been given both doses of either the Pfizer or the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, according to figures published on Wednesday. That is slightly over 20 per cent of the UK’s adult population, which is estimated at 52.7 million.
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “Another strong day vaccinating yesterday. We keep going, one in five adults are now protected with two doses.”
While most of the protection from vaccinations appears to kick in after just one dose, their efficacy rises after the second dose. In Israel, it was only after a critical mass of people had had two doses that the vaccines appeared to drive down the R number significantly.
