The September pledge was made by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. Today Mr Raab said all adults would receive their first vaccine dose “by September”. Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge he said: “If we can do it faster than that, great, but that’s the roadmap.”
Mr Raab failed to give a guarantee that everyone in the UK would receive their second dose of the vaccine within 12 weeks of being first vaccinated.
Speaking about an end to the present lockdown conditions, Mr Raab said that he hoped this would happen by “early spring”.
He said the restrictions would be lifted “gradually”.
The Foreign Secretary added he hoped the nation would be able to “get back to normal” after this
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However, he warned the things that could put this “at risk” are the new variants and pressure on the NHS, as he urged people to follow the rules.
He said he was “quietly confident” people would get the second dose giving full protection in time – but twice failed to give an outright promise.
Dominc Raab said the government has “considered all of the possibilities” to prevent the virus entering the country.
Mr Raab told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “We will consider all the measures in the round.
“In terms of enforcement, we are going to be strengthening the checks at the border – so when people come in to make sure that they have filled out the passenger location form, that they have got that negative test that they have to vouch for before they get on the flight.
“Also, because the effect of abolishing or suspending the travel corridors is that people go into quarantine and self-isolation for 10 days, we’re making sure that Public Health England checks to make sure people are adhering to those rules.
“As well as changing the rules, we are also making sure that we beef up the capacity to make those checks.”
The Foreign Secretary made his comments despite the gap between doses already being quadrupled from around 21 days.
day Telegraph reported Government sources hoped that every adult who wants it might even get their first jab by the end of June.
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At present more than half of over-80s in the UK have now had their first vaccine dose.
The Government’s mid-February target is to give the coronavirus jab to all over-70s, care home workers, and NHS staff.
More than 324,000 doses were administered in the last 24 hours from NHS centres.
This suggests the Government’s current mid-February target of vaccinating two million is on track.
Now, more than 3.5 million people have received their first dose of a vaccine.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson called this a “fantastic national effort”.
Mr Johnson tweeted: “We’ve given over 3.5 million vaccine doses to protect against COVID-19, with over 324,000 doses yesterday Friday alone.
“Thank you to everyone who is helping in this fantastic national effort.
“Help our NHS by staying at home to save lives.”
