Daily Covid-19 vaccination figures show that more than 2.2 million people in the UK have now received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Three different Covid-19 vaccines have now been approved for use outside of clinical trials in the UK - colloquially referred to as Pfizer, Oxford and Moderna - and all require a two-dose delivery to offer full protection.
Despite this, the first administered dose of the vaccine does still offer patients notably protections against developing serious health consequences, as a result of Covid-19.
Vaccination efforts continue to ramp up across the UK, with the total figure for people to have received their first dose of any Covid-19 vaccine between December 8, 2020 and January 10, 2021 was 2,286,572 people.
Across the four devolved nations, the individual breakdowns were recorded as:
- England: 1,959,151
- Scotland: 163,377
- Wales: 86,039
- Northern Ireland: 78,005
Some of those categorised as most vulnerable have already received their second booster vaccine jabs, providing as near full protection.
In the same time period as above, a total of more than 2.6 million vaccine doses have been administered in the UK - with some data on second doses in Scotland missing from those national estimates.
Vaccination efforts in the UK are being offered on a priority basis.
By February 15, 2021, the UK Government aims to have offered vaccination to everyone in its top four priority groups, as set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). These four groups are classified as:
- all residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
- all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
- all those 75 years of age and over
- all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
These prioritisations for vaccination were created in accordance with the advice of the JCVI, independent experts who advise government officials on which vaccines should be used in the UK and provide population level prioritisation advice.
The committee has advised that the first priorities for any Covid-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention Covid-19 mortality and protection of health and social care staff and systems. Secondary priorities could include vaccination of those at increased risk of hospitalisation and at increased risk of exposure, and to maintain resilience in essential public services.
A total of nine priority cohort groups have been drafted, in accordance with the JCVI’s recommendations, to guide prioritisation of vaccine allocation going forward beyond this. These groups are weighted as the following:
- residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
- all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
- all those 75 years of age and over
- all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
- all those 65 years of age and over
- all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
- all those 60 years of age and over
- all those 55 years of age and over
- all those 50 years of age and over
In efforts to also increase transparency over UK vaccination efforts and accomplishments, NHS England is set to release each week a more detailed weekly breakdown of the national vaccination figures, beginning from Thursday January 14, 2021, which will include regional breakdowns of vaccination efforts in England.
