Covid: More than 10 million in UK have received two vaccine doses
More than 10 million people in the UK have now received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The milestone means that more than 19% of all adults in the country have received both their jabs, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.
Official data shows that so far, second doses have been administered to 8,518,498 people in England and 757,115 in Scotland.
In Wales, 602,807 people have received their second jab, and in Northern Ireland, 273,619.
This brings the total number of people receiving second doses across the UK to 10,152,039.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “Vaccines offer us the best possible protection from the virus, so it is fantastic that 10 million people have now received their second dose.
“This is another remarkable milestone in our vaccination programme, which has already saved thousands of lives.
“I want to thank the brilliant staff and volunteers involved in the rollout, and urge all those who are called to keep coming forward.”
DHSC said that health services across the UK administered a total of 43,084,487 million vaccines between December 8 and April 18, including 32,932,448 people receiving their first dose.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the UK having administered more than 10 million second doses of a coronavirus vaccine.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Hancock said: “On Friday and Saturday we saw record numbers of second doses, over 499,000 on each day, and I’m delighted to tell the House that as of midnight last night we’ve now given second doses to over 10 million people across the UK.
“Three quarters of over-75s have now had both jabs rising to four fifths of over-80s. The vaccine is our way out of this pandemic and I’m delighted that it’s being taken up in such huge numbers.”
The health secretary added that the uptake of the vaccine has been “astonishingly high”.
Giving some vaccine take-up statistics, Mr Hancock said: “Last week we hit our target to offer a vaccine to priority groups one to nine and we are on track to offer a vaccine to all adults by the end of July.
“But throughout we must be vigilant, cautious and careful because we want this road to be a one-way street.
“The uptake of the vaccine has been astonishingly high. For all over-50s, uptake is 94%.
“Enthusiasm among those in their late 40s was so high that when we opened up the booking system last week they briefly overloaded the website.”