Yahoo Finance Covid: Sajid Javid celebrates reaching 5million booster jabs
The Health Secretary marked the milestone as the UK reached more than five million Covid booster jabs.
An estimated 5.3million doses of the booster jab have been rolled out across the country, new figures revealed.
Sajid Javid shared his delight at the “fantastic achievement” with the third doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
He said: “Hitting over five million booster jabs across the UK is a fantastic achievement as we keep ahead in the race between the vaccine and the virus.
“Getting your booster jab is one of the most important things you can do this winter to keep building our wall of defence against the virus and stop you becoming seriously ill from Covid-19.
“I urge all those eligible to book their booster and flu vaccines soon as possible to maintain your protection.”
It comes as the UK recorded 49,298 in the UK and 180 deaths were recorded on Friday.
It is the first time data on boosters has been reported by all four nations.
A total of 4,524,517 doses have been delivered in England in addition to 429,801 in Scotland, 322,591 in Wales and 43,536 in Northern Ireland.
NHS England, Public Health Scotland, Public Health Wales and the Northern Ireland Department of Health published the figures.
More than half of double-jabbed people over 80 in England (53.6 per cent) have no had their booster jab compared to just under half (47.2 per cent in Wales).
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also hailed the huge milestone as “fantastic”.
He said: “It’s vital that you take up your booster jab when you’re offered it this winter.”
Dr Nikki Kanani, deputy lead for the NHS vaccination programme, said: “The NHS Covid vaccination programme continues to accelerate at speed and it is fantastic that in just one month, more than five million booster doses have been delivered across the UK, including over 4.5 million in England alone.
“Hundreds of thousands of people continue to book in for their vital boosters every day, including almost half a million on Wednesday and Thursday this week, and with millions more set to receive invites next week, I would urge everyone to book in as soon as possible to get crucial protection this winter.
“The booster is not simply a nice to have, it will provide important extra protection as we go into the winter period.
“So if you have been invited or a family or friend has been invited, please do come forward.”
The Government have held off implenting Plan B which includes enforcing work from home and face masks.
On Friday, Mr Johnson said the measures remain under “constant review” but he said the UK was in line with what was expected for the autumn and winter plan.
He told reporters: “We keep all measures under constant review.
“We do whatever we have to do to protect the public but the numbers that we’re seeing at the moment are fully in line with what we expected in the autumn and winter plan.
“What we want people to do is to come forward and get their jabs. We also want young people, we want kids at school, to be getting their jabs.”
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