Ministers were told to get their act together on Covid booster vaccines today by figures across the political spectrum as unofficial data suggested daily infection numbers may have already breached 80,000.
The Government has resisted growing pressure to revert to its winter 'Plan B' and bring back masks and WFH guidance, leading to fears that people could be stung by last-minute Christmas curbs once again.
England's Covid booster jab drive is struggling to get off the mark, leaving millions of vulnerable people without a crucial third dose heading into what is expected to be one of the toughest winters ever for the NHS.
Just 4million out of the 8.7m patients in England who are eligible for a booster now have had one, including just a third of care home residents and half of over-80s.
The sluggish programme comes against the backdrop of rising case numbers, with nearly 50,000 Britons testing positive each day. Britain's largest symptom-tracking study, however, estimated today that the true number of infections is actually closer to 80,000 — which would dwarf the level at the peak of the second wave.
Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today called for the Government to cut the gap between second and third doses from six to five months to speed up the lacklustre scheme, like Israel is doing.
The comments came after Tony Blair set out a strategy the fix the autumn rollout, which includes setting a daily target of 500,000 boosters, re-opening mass vaccination centres and using AstraZeneca doses.
Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the 'stalling' booster programme was to blame for the country's escalating Covid crisis, as he warned that at the current rate the jab drive won't be completed until March.
Fewer than 200,000 boosters are being deployed per day and the sluggishness is thought to be due to a combination of NHS bureaucracy and a lack of capacity.
Only around 4.05million(purple line) out of the 8.7million eligible people (green line) in England have received the crucial third dose, prompting ministers to urge people to come forward for their inoculations. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair today demanded the Government sets concrete targets to speed the drive up to jab 500,000 a day. It's currently only reaching about 200,000. The graph shows the number of booster jabs that have been administered each day (orange bars) the cumulative booster doses given in October (red line) and the cumulative, compared to the rollout of second doses that were dished out in April (blue line)
Sajid Javid (pictured during the Downing Street press conference yesterday evening), the Health Secretary, promised to speed up the vaccine drive and encourage more people to come forward. But he failed to address concerns about NHS bureaucracy and a lack of capacity
The sluggish programme comes against the backdrop of rising case numbers, with nearly 50,000 Britons testing positive each day. Britain's largest symptom-tracking study, however, estimated today that the true number of infections is actually closer to 82,000 — which would dwarf the rate at the peak of the second wave. King's College London scientists running the study estimated 81,823 people were getting infected with Covid daily in the week ending October 16, up 17 per cent from 69,993 the week before. The graph shows the number of infections recorded among all people (blue line) and those recorded among double-jabbed Britons (red line)
Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt said: 'At its peak in the spring we were jabbing 400,000 people a day. Now it's less than 200,000 people a day.
'If you look at the higher hospitalisations, cases and death rates, compared to countries like France and Germany, the heart of it is not actually things like mask wearing and Covid passports, it is their higher vaccine immunity.'
He continued: 'Does it really matter when it's only nine weeks until the Christmas holidays if someone has their booster jab after five months?
'And should we not look at whether there should be flexibility in that decision so we can get more people in more quickly for their booster jabs?'
Meanwhile, King's College London's symptom tracking study found that cases among Britons has risen by a fifth in a week to the highest level this year.
It 81,823 people were getting infected daily in the week
