UK gov’t says almost 80% of over 80s vaccinated

London, Jan 25 (efe-epa).- At least 78.7% of people over 80 in the United Kingdom have received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, the government said Monday.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said 6.5 million people, more than one in nine adult Brits, had been given the first dose of a vaccine. Some 470,000 people have had a second jab. 

“On Saturday alone, we have nearly half a million jabs and in the last week, 2.5 million people have been vaccinated across the UK, that’s a rate of more than 250 people a minute,” Hancock added.

The UK was one of the first countries to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in early December. British regulators have since given the green light to roll out vaccines made by Moderna and AstraZeneca-Oxford University.

Parts of the UK have been in a state of lockdown since October. Residents are being asked to remain at home and it is non-essential travel currently against the law.

UK health officials on Monday reported a further 22,195 Covid-19 cases, a considerable decrease from the 30,000 detected on Sunday. There were 592 deaths in the last 24 hours, down from 600 reported Sunday. EFE-EPA

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