Britain has now vaccinated over 28 million people, which means we have vaccinated half of all adults across the country. More than 404,000 vaccines have been administered across Surrey Heartlands, and all those over 50 who have yet to take up the offer of a vaccine can book a slot on nhs.uk/covid-vaccination. The Government has also confirmed that shielding will end from Thursday 1 April, as virus infection rates continue to fall and more than 9 in 10 clinically extremely vulnerable people have been vaccinated.
While we have known that interruptions in vaccine supply are inevitable in a programme of this scale and pace, the Government is on track to offer a vaccine to all those over 50 by 15 April, every adult by the end of July and give around 12 million people their second dose next month. Those waiting for second doses will be contacted directly by the teams who delivered their first dose and all second dose appointments will go ahead as planned. GP-led vaccination services are also continuing to contact patients who have not yet received their vaccination to offer them an appointment.
The latest data clearly shows that both the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines reduce the likelihood of serious illness by 60 per cent after the first dose. Protection against hospitalisation is around 80 per cent after one dose and protection against death is around 85 per cent. The data also shows that if you live with someone who’s been vaccinated, you have a 30 per cent lower risk of catching the virus yourself.
As the biggest donor of the global vaccine alliance, CoVax, Britain has been leading from the front on access to vaccines by committing £548 million in British aid to help distribute 1.3 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to 92 developing countries this year. So far, over 30 million vaccines have been shipped to 54 participants.
If you have any questions about the roll-out, there is a dedicated vaccination email and phone service you can contact: [email protected] / 0300 561 2500 – lines are open from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday only. As ever, if you need my help, please email me at [email protected] or leave me a message on 020 7219 5972.
