Hunt for the 2million unvaccinated Britons as Boris Johnson urges vulnerable people to come forward

Ministers are hunting for the final two million vulnerable Britons who have not yet come forward for their Covid vaccine, warning that having large numbers of unprotected people could delay the easing of lockdown.

The Government has made it its mission to inoculate the 15million Brits most at risk of dying from the coronavirus by Monday, which includes everyone over 70, care home residents, their carers and frontline NHS staff, as well as patients classed as clinically extremely vulnerable, such as those with terminal illnesses.

But while 13million in the most vulnerable categories have had the jab, including 90 per cent of the over-70s and care home residents, the Prime Minister has warned there is still a group numbering roughly twice the population of Birmingham who had yet to receive one.  

Sir Patrick Vallance warned last night that lockdown-loosening plans will have to go even slower if large numbers of vulnerable people remained unvaccinated. This would mean there is always the threat of a rapid spike in deaths and hospitalisations, he said.

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 this morning despite the concerns, the Government is ‘confident’ of meeting its target.

Speaking directly to the two million vulnerable Brits yet to be vaccinated, Boris Johnson told last 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’. 

But some areas of the country leading the way in the vaccine roll-out have taken it on themselves to start jabbing under-70s.

Warning that poor uptake could mean lockdown would need to be extended, Sir Patrick told last night’s briefing: ‘There will be a significant number of people in high-risk groups who haven’t yet been vaccinated.

‘Those people remain at risk, and so it’s important we go cautiously in opening up in order to be able to measure the effects.

‘One of the things that is really crucial in this is to get enough information to know the trajectory we are on and to not jump ahead of it. Because we are at very high levels and that can take off very quickly. The virus isn’t going to be particularly interested in dates.’

Drive-through centres have been set up in St Albans, Hertfordshire, and at Queen Margaret University near Edinburgh, where Mary Foster was one of the first to have the jab yesterday. 

The retired home help worker said: ‘I think this is great, I’m really excited and I think people who don’t want to be vaccinated should think again.’ 

The centre at the university can vaccinate about 720 people a day, seven days a week.

It comes as Britain yesterday announced 13,013 more coronavirus cases and 1,001 deaths, as the winter wave continues to be brought under control by draconian lockdown restrictions.

Wednesday’s Covid infections are down by a third on last week’s figure, while fatalities have shrunk by a quarter compared to the tally a week ago.

The number of Covid patients in hospital has also fallen by more than a fifth in a week, with just over 26,000 beds now taken up by sufferers compared to almost 40,000 at the peak last month.

Meanwhile, Department of Health officials revealed another 415,000 vaccines had been administered on Tuesday, with more than 13million Brits having now received their first dose. With five days still to go, Britain is now cruising towards the Government’s target of injecting the 15million most vulnerable by February 15.

With all the key metrics now pointing towards a quickly shrinking epidemic, and with the vaccine rollout steaming ahead, pressure is mounting on the Government to start dropping the most brutal lockdown curbs.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to lay out a ‘route map’ out of the national shutdown on February 22, with schools expected to be the first to go back sometime after March 8.

Figures also show Britain has dished out 10 per cent of the entire world’s coronavirus vaccines and more than France, Germany, Italy and Spain combined.

Despite its small population in the global standings, the UK has administered a whopping 13.5million out of 146million doses given out internationally – almost 10 per cent of all the world’s jabs so far.

According to the statistics compiled by the Oxford University-based research platform Our World in Data, this puts Britain in third place behind only the US and China, which have far larger populations.

The figures also show more doses have been dished out here than in France, Germany, Italy and Spain combined. European commission president Ursula von der Leyen yesterday issued a grovelling apology for the EU’s jab shambles, admitting the bloc acted ‘late’ and was ‘over-confident’.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday said the speed with which Covid jabs were developed and rolled out was an ‘inspiration’ but added that it was ‘unfair’ poorer countries were missing out due to a lack of a global strategy.

Number 10’s pandemic response has come in for widespread criticism on the whole, although ministers have been roundly praised for their vaccine rollout being one step ahead of the rest of the world. Ministers spent more than £6billion developing and procuring the jabs — a fraction of the £200-plus billion spent on supporting businesses during the economically-crippling lockdowns — despite no guarantees any would work. 

But critics have warned against getting too complacent as latest figures from the Department of Health suggest the Covid drive has plateaued. The number of doses given to Brits on Monday rose by just one per cent compared to the same time last week, hovering at around 350,000. 

Another 414,973 Britons received their first or second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine yesterday, figures published yesterday reveal, up 10 per cent on the 376,922 jabs recorded the same time last week. 

But this was a marked slowdown from the week before when the number administered jumped by 20 per cent. 

Boris Johnson last night suggested summer holidays for Britons who have had both Covid jabs are on the horizon.

The Prime Minister said the Government was looking at ‘all kinds of apps and all kinds of possibilities’ for unlocking travel as the vaccine rollout is ramped up.

He confirmed ministers are in talks with other countries and the aviation industry about an international certification system.

But he added: ‘When we’re in that different world, which I hope will be as soon as possible, then all kinds of apps and all kinds of possibilities will be open to us.’ 

However, the row over travel and holidays look set to continue after advice from the Government descended into farce last night as ministers bickered over whether it is safe to book a summer break in the UK this year.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps sparked a furious backlash after declaring yesterday morning: ‘People shouldn’t be booking holidays right now – not domestically or internationally.’

As anger mounted, Downing Street appeared to distance itself from Mr Shapps at lunchtime, saying it was a ‘choice for individuals’.

But Boris Johnson, who earlier this month said he was ‘optimistic’ about the prospect of summer holidays, appeared to change his mind yesterday. 

The Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference it was ‘just too early for people to be certain about what we will be able to do this summer’. 

On a chaotic day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock then revealed to Tory MPs he has already booked a holiday in Cornwall this summer. Whitehall sources told the Mail that, despite the cautious message from the PM, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden are working on packages to promote holidays in the UK.

One insider said: ‘We are going to strain every sinew to let people have a holiday this summer.’

Another senior Tory said: ‘We are in danger of making ‘holiday’ a dirty word when it should be exactly the sort of aspirational thing we are celebrating.’ 

Britain has made ‘great strides’ in vaccination programme, Boris Johnson says as UK has dished out 10% of all the world’s Covid vaccines and reached 13million people – but he urges over-70s to come forward with 2m left to hit Monday’s target

BySam Blanchard Deputy Health Editorand Luke Andrewsand Emily Webber For Mailonline 

Britain has made ‘great strides’ in its vaccination programme, Boris Johnson said yesterday as he urged all unvaccinated over-70s to come forward so the UK can hit its target to reach 15million people by Monday.   

Despite its small population in the global standings, the UK has administered a whopping 13.5million out of 146million doses given out internationally – almost 10 per cent of all the world’s jabs so far.

The Prime Minister, speaking from a Downing Street press conference last night, said: ‘With less than a week to go until the target date of Monday the 15th, there’s no doubt we’ve made great strides, with just over 13 million people now vaccinated in our United Kingdom, including one in four adults in England, over 90 per cent of everyone over 75 and over 90 per cent of eligible residents of care homes for the elderly.

‘But that still leaves nearly two million people – a population roughly twice the size of Birmingham – that we still hope to reach. Now is the moment to do it.’

According to the statistics compiled by the Oxford University-based research platform Our World in Data, this puts Britain in third place behind only the US and China, which have far larger populations. 

The figures also show more doses have been dished out here than in France, Germany, Italy and Spain combined. European commission president Ursula von der Leyen yesterday issued a grovelling apology for the EU’s jab shambles, admitting the bloc acted ‘late’ and was ‘over-confident’. 

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday said the speed with which Covid jabs were developed and rolled out was an ‘inspiration’ but added that it was ‘unfair’ poorer countries were missing out due to a lack of a global strategy. 

Number 10’s pandemic response has come in for widespread criticism on the whole, although ministers have been roundly praised for their vaccine rollout being one step ahead of the rest of the world. Ministers spent more than £6billion developing and procuring the jabs — a fraction of the £200-plus billion spent on supporting businesses during the economically-crippling lockdowns — despite no guarantees any would work.

The UK Vaccines Taskforce, run by venture capitalist Kate Bingham, played a key role in secure huge numbers of doses of vaccines ahead of international competition. And the running of the Covid vaccine programme through the NHS, which operates a successful national flu vaccination scheme every year, has smoothed over the rollout.

But critics have warned against getting too complacent as latest figures from the Department of Health suggest the Covid drive has plateaued. The number of doses given to Brits on Monday rose by just one per cent compared to the same time last week, hovering at around 350,000. 

The Adam Smith Institute think-tank told MailOnline that while the programme had been a success so far, there was ‘no excuse’ for blips, because ‘the virus doesn’t sleep – the virus keeps spreading’. Despite concerns, Britain is within touching distance of delivering on its goal of vaccinating 15million of the most vulnerable by mid-February, which paves the way for the UK become one of the first countries to drop lockdowns completely.

Another 414,973 Britons received their first or second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine yesterday, figures published yesterday reveal, up 10 per cent on the 376,922 jabs recorded the same time last week. But this was a marked slowdown from the week before when the number administered jumped by 20 per cent.

It comes Department of Health figures yesterday suggested the UK’s second wave is still shrinking. They announced another 13,013 cases, 32 per cent lower than the same time last week. A further 1,001 deaths from the virus were also reported, 24 per cent lower than last Wednesday. This took the total number of Covid deaths to 114,851. 

Speaking at last night’s Downing Street briefing, chief scientist Sir Patrick Vallance said it was ‘really critical’ that everyone who is offered a vaccine accepted it.

Boris Johnson said that if the speed of vaccination the supplies can be kept consistent, the Government planned to have reached everyone over the age of 55 by the end of April.

James Lawson, author of the study Worth a Shot: Accelerating Covid-19 Vaccinations, and fellow at think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, yesterday urged ministers not to be complacent because of early success.

‘While the Government has made significant progress since January in boosting the amount of daily doses we can’t be complacent,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘We need to keep up the pace, keep accelerating and ultimately should be aiming to even double or triple the number of doses that we are doing compared with yesterday.

‘There is ultimately no excuse for slowing down. We can’t use the excuse of weekends and weather because ultimately the virus doesn’t stop for weekends, the virus doesn’t sleep – the virus keeps spreading so we do need to accelerate.’

He added that ministers must make the most of the time before second doses need to be delivered, which will mean vaccinators can reach fewer Britons with first doses every day. 

‘The intent behind doing the first dose is to get the maximum coverage of vulnerable groups and that is something we are supportive of – at the same time they should be extending to a wider audience,’ he said.

‘The worry we have got is without the number of doses increasing on a daily basis you are going to see a slowdown in the number of new doses being given out or first doses being given out as we catch up on second doses.

‘For every person we give a second dose to we can’t give another first dose out. We do have a worry that if they don’t increase the capacity to distribute doses then we are going to see a slowdown either in the number of people who get their second dose or in the people who get a first dose – neither of which is ideal.’

Department of Health figures show the vaccination drive ramped up by at least 25 per cent every week over the first three weeks it was opened — as nurses and volunteers rushed to get Britain moving again.

But it ticked up by just one per cent on February 8, the latest day data is available, when 356,291 doses were administered compared to 352,935 on Monday last week.  

Our World in Health data shows Britain has dished out 35 times more doses of Covid vaccines than Germany, which is leading the jabs drive in the EU. Germany has managed 337,000 doses so far, followed by Italy at 270,000, France at 222,000 and Spain’s 217,000.

The figures also reveal a sharp disparity between the drive in different continents, with the whole of Africa having given out 17,600 doses so far.

Tony Blair yesterday called on countries around the world to co-ordinate their vaccine strategy saying they have an ‘opportunity to learn the lessons from the early vaccine rollout’.

‘The speed with which Covid-19 vaccines were developed and are being rolled out has been an inspiration,’ he said. 

‘In just six weeks, the world has already administered 134million shots, with a current rolling average of over 4.5million doses per day. But the unequal distribution of those vaccines is both unfair and unsustainable.

‘The main challenge has been the lack of any global strategy to co-ordinate and maximise production, and then ensure their swift and equitable distribution to every country in the world. 

‘Given the potential for vaccine resistant strains to develop in any part of the word and then spread globally, the whole world is in peril if we allow this situation to persist.

‘As more vaccines achieve regulatory approval and new vaccines to deal with new variants arrive, the world must be prepared. Closed borders are not sustainable in the medium or long term.

‘We need to create a globally co-ordinated vaccine strategy now, bringing together representatives from science, medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, manufacturing, financiers, distribution and logistics to consider how to accelerate vaccine production and oversee allocation and procurement processes with governments.’

It comes after Ms von der Leyen yesterday issued a grovelling apology for the EU’s vaccine shambles, admitting the bloc acted ‘late’ and was ‘over-confident’.

The European commission president also conceded its rollout was still not ‘where we want to be’ in a humbling speech in Brussels.

However, she defended trying to thrash out at unified approach for the 27 member states, even though she has likened it to a ‘tanker’ compared to the UK’s ‘speedboat’. 

Globally there are around 4.6million jabs being given every day, with around one in 10 of those happening in the UK.

Speaking at an EU Parliament plenary session, Ms von der Leyen said: ‘We are still not where we want to be. We were late to authorise.

‘We were too optimistic when it came to massive production and perhaps we were too confident that, what we ordered, would actually be delivered on time.’

Ms von der Leyen also said she was sorry for the confusion over the threat to suspend the Northern Ireland protocol in order to block vaccine exports – which was humiliatingly dropped.

‘The bottom line is that mistakes were made in the process leading up to the decision,’ Ms von der Leyen said.

‘And I deeply regret that. But in the end we got it right.’

Ms von der Leyen said she still believes that 70 per cent of the EU’s adult population can be vaccinated by the end of summer, swiping at pharmaceutical companies for not keeping pace with scientific advances.

‘Industry has to match the groundbreaking pace of science,’ Ms von der Leyen said.

‘We fully understand that difficulties will arise in the mass production of vaccines.

‘But Europe has invested billions of euros in capacities in advance, and we urged the member states to plan the vaccine rollout. So now we all need predictability.’

Despite the chaos, the three groups of MEPs stuck with Ms von der Leyen’s approach of member states moving together.

‘The key decisions were right,’ Manfred Weber, leader of the Christian Democrat European People’s Party, said.

The Socialists and Democrats party leader Iratxe Garcia said: ‘Fiasco, catastrophe, disaster: they ring very true to our citizens.’But she added that her party would stick with Ms von der Leyen on the bloc moving together. ‘Criticism is necessary but with a constructive spirit,’ she said.