England gave out 344,464 Covid vaccines on Thursday, official figures show, as Britain reaches the halfway point of its target to immunise 15 million of the most vulnerable by mid-February with first doses now given to 7.5million.
The NHS data shows that 344,464 vaccinations were administered across England on January 28 – of which 343,193 were given to people receiving their first dose.
The UK needs to be vaccinating at least 400,000 people every day over the next two weeks in order to fulfil Number 10‘s promise of immunising all 15million of the most vulnerable Brits by February 15.
Figures show that 1,271 had received their second jab on Thursday and the number of first vaccinations in England were up by 36 per cent, 91,472, from 252,992 immunisations on Wednesday.
However, a vaccine postcode lottery means that while 84 per cent of over-80s have been immunised in the North East and Yorkshire, this is lower at 78 per cent in the South East and only 65 per cent in London.
It emerged earlier this week that vaccine supplies are being diverted away from the North, which is storming ahead with its vaccine drive, and redirected to the South to help it catch up.
The NHS data shows that 344,464 vaccinations were administered across England on January 28 – of which 343,193 were given to people receiving their first dose. Pictured: AstraZeneca/Oxford University is administered in Middlesbrough
Meanwhile it was revealed today that Johnson and Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine is 66 per cent effective against the disease, early trial results reveal.
The jab is made by Janssen – the Belgian arm of the US pharmaceutical giant – uses similar technology to the Oxford vaccine, making it easy to transport and store, but requires just a single injection to protect against Covid.
The scientists also said no safety concerns were raised in the trial involving 44,000 volunteers – a third of which were over 65 and two fifths suffered from an underlying health condition such as obesity, diabetes and HIV.
The UK has ordered 30million doses, with the option of purchasing 22million more, and experts say it could be rolled out in Britain by late February.
It comes after Novavax announced its jab was 89 per cent effective last night. Both will need to be reviewed by Britain’s medical regulator before they can be deployed.
The figures revealed today show a lower efficacy compared to others reported so far, with Pfizer and Moderna’s both around 95 per cent.
But scientists said this is still a very good result, with the World Health Organization initially setting the threshold for effectiveness at around 50 per cent.
The new vaccines could significantly speed up the programme which has been held back by supply shortages.
Pfizer’s and AstraZeneca’s are the only ones currently being rolled out in the UK and have accounted for the 7million doses given out already.
Another jab, made by US firm Moderna and approved by the British regular, won’t be delivered until March because the UK was late to get its order in.
Janssen said it recorded 468 infections in its phase 3 tests. They added it was shown to have slightly less efficacy (57 per cent) in trials in South Africa, where a mutant strain of Covid-19 is feared to make jabs less potent.
It comes as England’s coronavirus R rate is now between 0.7 and 1.0, according to SAGE’s latest estimates — but official figures show more than a million people were carrying the virus last week as infections levelled off.
The Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies said the reproduction value – the average number of people each Covid patient infects – had fallen only slightly from last week’s range of 0.8 to 1.0.
So far the UK has placed orders for 367million doses of the seven most promising Covid vaccines — made by AstraZeneca , Pfizer , Moderna, Valneva, Janssen, GlaxoSmithKline and Novavax — at a cost of £2.9billion
The single-dose vaccine invented by Johnson & Johnson was shown to be 66 per cent effective in trials, but 86 per cent effective at preventing severe Covid with no participants requiring hospitalisation due to the disease
The group warned that cases ‘continue to be dangerously high and the public must remain vigilant to keep this virus under control, to protect the NHS and save lives’. For the UK as a whole, SAGE estimates the R rate is between 0.7 and 1.1, a change from 0.8 and 1.0 last week.
The widening of the range ‘reflects a change in uncertainty’ in how quickly the virus is spreading, the experts said.
SAGE cautioned that its R rate estimate is about a week out of date and only looks at infections, hospitalisations and deaths up to January 25. Experts would have hoped that, three weeks into the national lockdown, the R rate would come down more significantly.
There are fears the super-infectious Kent variant, which is thought to be at least 50 per cent more transmissible than the original strain and 30 per cent more deadly, has made lockdowns less effective.
Meanwhile, an Office for National Statistics report published today estimated that 1.01million people were carrying the disease at any given time in the week ending January 23, the equivalent of one in 55. But there were still large regional disparities, with one in 35 thought to have had the virus in London compared to one in 85 in Yorkshire and one in 70 in the East Midlands.
It is the fourth week in a row the ONS believes more than a million people in England were infected with Covid on any given day and today’s figure is down only slightly on last week’s estimate of 1.02million. The ONS estimates around one in 70 people were carrying the virus in Wales last week, one in 50 in Northern Ireland and one in 110 in Scotland. Statisticians said cases had ‘levelled off’ in all three nations.
Separate data from from ZOE COVID Symptom Study found daily new cases are falling in all regions of the UK, ‘but the pace of decline has slowed down’.