Britain has dished out more than 14million coronavirus vaccines since the rollout began, official figures reveal, as NHS bosses sought to turbo-charge the rollout by offering jabs to all those over-65 after facing mounting calls to pick up the pace.
The total takes No10 within touching distance of its target of inoculating all 15million in the top four priority groups – over-70s, NHS workers, care home residents and staff and severely ill Britons – with first doses by next Monday.
Department of Health figures show 508,736 shots were administered on Thursday, including 503,116 first doses and 5,647 second doses. This was the third highest number of jabs given out in 24 hours so far, only beaten by the 609,010 got into people’s arms on January 30 and the 550,468 on February 6.
Daily vaccination figures are not broken down by age, meaning it is not clear how many were administered to those outside the top four priority groups.
Whitehall sources suggest the Government is very close to achieving its jabbing target. But ministers accept they will never be able to achieve 100 per cent uptake, prompting them to issue a last-ditch plea for almost 2million Britons in the most at-risk groups to come forward.
NHS England moved to expand the rollout to over-65s today, amid reports that thousands of appointments were going spare across the country.
They were, however, left trailing behind Wales, which today became the first UK nation to say it had inoculated all those in the top four groups, after its First Minister Mark Drakeford said today that health chiefs there had already begun to contact some over-50s and offer them jabs.
They were also behind Northern Ireland, where people aged 65 to 69, first in line after the top groups, have been able to book a vaccination at seven regional centres since the end of January. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she expects all over-65s there to have got their first dose by the end of February.
Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Hampshire, Coventry and other parts of England had already begun vaccinated the over-65s before the announcement, and there are reports from London and Manchester of some over-60s being given their Covid vaccines.
No10 had previously said it would not ‘stand in the way’ of regions that wanted to start vaccinating over-65s before mid-February in cases where they had already reached all those in the top groups.
It comes amid reports teachers, police officers and other key workers could start receiving their jabs by April, with them expected to be first in line once the over-50s have been jabbed.
Britain is on course to cover all priority groups by mid-February. But ministers accept they will never be able to achieve 100 per cent uptake, prompting them to issue a last-ditch plea for almost 2million Britons in the most at-risk groups to come forward.
The rollout will then be expanded to 65 to 69-year-olds, before working down the age groups until all over-50s have received a first dose. No10 hopes to have dished out jabs to all 32million in the top nine groups by April.
And key workers could then be next in line, according to Whitehall sources which told The Telegraph the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations – which designed the UK’s priority list – is expected to make the recommendation in the week starting February 22, when Boris Johnson unveils his lockdown exit strategy.
Francis Crick Institute boss Sir Paul Nurse revealed 90 per cent of appointments at their London-based clinic had not been filled for two weeks. And the vaccination hub at Taunton Racecourse, Somerset, has also had to cut its opening times by five hours and temporarily stand down some staff. It had the capacity to reach 900 Britons a day.
Revealing that teachers and other key workers were going to be next in line behind over-50s, a source told the paper there was a ‘clear focus’ on giving early priority to key workers, which also includes bus drivers and deliverymen.
‘The JCVI will need to see the latest data on transmission before they make their recommendations,’ they said.
Sir Paul Nurse, the head of the Francis Crick Institute in London, has said their vaccination centre has had 90 per cent of its appointments going unused for two weeks. It comes amid mounting concern of a mass slowdown in the drive
‘But we have been clear that there are two things: Firstly, protecting those most at risk of hospitalisation overall, largely as a result of age, which is what the first cohort covers; and then looking at those whose roles increase their risk.
‘The transmission data will inform the exact recommendations but it is clear that teachers and police will be given early priority.’
Police officers have already been given the green light to get Covid jabs if there are leftover stocks, providing they are in plain clothes and not in official vehicles so as not to draw attention to themselves.
In an internal memo, staff are advised that they cannot be seen to receive preferential treatment that would contradict the Government’s decision not to prioritise police.
It also emerged that some officers have sidestepped even this discreet arrangement by booking jabs through services meant for NHS staff.
Scotland Yard said last month that five Met officers had died with Covid in little more than a fortnight. A custody sergeant, three constables and a traffic police community officer died between January 11 and January 26.
Met Police bosses circulated the jabs memo after officers shared a link on WhatsApp that allowed them to ignore the agreed protocols and book in for vaccinations at Hillingdon Hospital in west London, via a link originally intended for health workers.
Officers were urged not to use the link but if they had already booked an appointment then they should ‘still attend but in plainclothes or a plainclothes jacket and not in marked vehicles’.
There are 15million people in the top four priority groups, who are all set to have their first dose by mid-February, and 17million between 69 and 50 years old.
Providing 345,000 jabs are administered daily from February 15, all those over 50 should be covered by April 7, according to a MailOnline analysis.
But ministers are already giving out 434,301 jabs a day on average, the latest figures show, suggesting they could cover all those over-50 even earlier.
The rollout could also be slowed by the need to start administering second doses once the 12-week gap is up, which will reduce the capacity to give out first doses.
Experts have already raised fears that the operation is not going fast enough, and cautioned ministers are so focussed on getting jabs to the top four priority groups that the rollout is being slowed in areas where this target has been reached.
Sir Paul warned today that although they had 500 volunteers and could vaccinate 1,000 patients a day, they had been seeing fewer than 100 for the past fortnight and sometimes only 30 in a day.
‘The NHS vaccination program has gone very well but there does seem to be a problem showing itself in empty slots appearing in the national booking system,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. ‘We’ve also had to close the centre at weekends.’
‘I know there’s similar problems elsewhere. The BBC reported a similar problem in Telford, for example. So why are only five to 10 per cent of the booking slots being filled? That’s the concern to us.’
The 72-year-old spoke to Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi two weeks ago about the problem, who said he hopes it ‘will go away in a few days’.
He said vaccination centres across the country are suffering the same problem and urged the UK to speed up its vaccine roll-out.
Ministers have blamed ‘lumpy’ supplies of vaccines for fluctuations in vaccination speed in recent weeks.
Both AstraZeneca and Pfizer are currently reorganising their factories, meaning the NHS cannot get hold of a consistent supply of the UK’s two approved vaccines to give out to vaccination centres across the country.
But Sir Paul said his institute has enough of the vaccine to dish out 10 to 20 times what it currently is.
He added he didn’t know the reasons for the low number of appointments being filled, but urged ministers to ‘correct’ the issue.
The NHS England statistics, which go up to February 7, show Somerset had given at least one dose to 93.4 per cent of all of its over-70s. Derbyshire was second, with 92.5 per cent of people above that age having received their first shot of either Pfizer’s of Oxford University’s vaccine
The Covid vaccination centre at Taunton Racecourse in Somerset, pictured, has also cut its opening times by five hours. It could give out 900 shots a day
Teachers and police could start receiving their coronavirus vaccines in April, after everyone over 50 has got their first dose. Police officers have been told they can get vaccinated at health centres with spare capacity – but must wear plain clothes and not their uniforms so as not to draw attention to themselves
‘It could be because of vaccine shortage, it could be to avoid criticism, as you’ve implied, in the media about not vaccinating those in a higher category before lower categories. It could be around the country, so called postcode lottery. It may be that people don’t like to go to the vaccination centres and prefer GP surgeries.
‘But there is something amiss. We need to find out what it is and then correct it and find out what’s going wrong, fix it. Because science has provided us with the tools to move forward and we need to use them as rapidly as possible, we do need to vaccinate faster.’
There are concerns that social care workers are more reluctant to come forward or have been missed because of shift patterns and that some elderly people are having trouble booking appointments or reaching vaccination centres.
GPs are now being paid commission to inoculate the housebound in their homes and family doctors are being urged to make personal calls to all their older patients who have not received their injection. Roving teams will hunt for care home staff who have been missed and drive-through centres have been set up to give them a more flexible way to get their jab without leaving their cars.
Meanwhile, data suggests up to twice as many black, Asian and ethnic minority Brits are turning down the vaccine compared to white people, which is believed to be due to a mistrust in Government. The NHS is working with local faith and community leaders to tackle vaccine hesitancy and counter anti-vaxx propaganda online.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said yesterday morning despite concerns, the Government is ‘confident’ of meeting its target.
Speaking directly to the two million vulnerable Brits yet to be vaccinated, Boris Johnson told Tuesday night’s Downing Street press conference: ‘Now is the moment to do it.’
So far Number 10 has batted away calls to start injecting younger people if those in the priority groups are turning them down or missing appointments. The PM said the reason for this was ‘not so we hit some numerical target, but to save lives, prevent serious illness, and so the whole country can take another step on the long and hard road back to normality’.
Staff at the Taunton Racecourse vaccination hub have also revealed they were sent home at 3pm on Thursday, five hours early, after running out of ‘eligible’ patients from the four top priority groups.
The hub has been running from 8am to 8pm, vaccinating up to 900 people a day, since it was opened last month. But several people working at the centre have been told they will not now be needed for the next two weeks.
One health worker at the site blasted the early closure, which they said was because the centre had to wait for other parts of the country to catch up with their vaccinations.
‘This is all political and deeply shocking,’ they told MailOnline. ‘They’ve decided the 70-plus cohort needs to be completed nationwide before Taunton can move to the 65-70 group.
‘They are worried about people in other areas of the country asking, “how come the 65s in Somerset are getting vaccinated and we are not?”
‘Matt Hancock is missing the point here. The idea should be to get as many people vaccinated as possible – not to worry about the postcodes they are in. They could say to the over-65s in Somerset, “Book yourself in and come today” but they are not doing that.
‘They have spare capacity and they are choosing to close early instead. It’s just shocking and it doesn’t make any sense.’
Taunton Racecourse was one of ten new sites added last month to seven already existing hubs in a bid to get 15 million vaccinated nationwide by February 15.
Early traffic at the racecourse was described as ‘bumper to bumper’ with people travelling from a 45-mile radius to get their first dose.
Yesterday a spokesperson for Somerset’s Covid-19 vaccination programme said they had ‘temporarily limited opening times’ because their goal to vaccinate the four priority groups would be achieved by Sunday.
‘Our large vaccination centres, like the one at Taunton Racecourse, are designed to see between 450 and 900 people a day. As we come close to vaccinating all those in the first four priority groups in Somerset, the bookings at our large vaccination centres have temporarily reduced in line with demand.
‘We have at times therefore temporarily limited opening times at these centres but we remain ready to extend them again as we need to, when vaccinations open to those in the next priority groups identified by the JCVI.
‘We are hugely grateful to all the support that we have had from our volunteers and health and care teams who have been working around the clock to run these services. We are continuously reviewing the planned bookings at all our centres and will adjust services when required, to support larger or smaller numbers of vaccination appointments depending on demand.’