Under-30s to be invited for vaccines as freedom day could be delayed

Matt Hancock confirmed that the under-30s will be called up for their first dose within days (Picture: AFP/LNP)

People under the age of 30 will be invited for a Covid-19 vaccination next week, the health secretary has confirmed.

Matt Hancock said this morning that the next cohort of people will be called up within days as the vaccine rollout continues at speed.

Despite the success of the vaccine programme, he said it was ‘too early’ to determine whether ‘Freedom Day’ will go ahead as planned on June 21.

He said the jabs had ‘severed but not broken’ the link between a rise in Covid cases and an increase in the number of people being admitted to hospital.

Mr Hancock told the Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme: ‘The majority of people going into hospital with Covid now are unvaccinated. 

‘Obviously that’s a challenge for them but it’s good news for all of us because it shows that the vaccine protects you from going into hospital.

‘This week we’ll be opening up vaccines to the under-30s and so we’re getting a step closer to the point when we’ve been able to offer the vaccine to all adults in this country.

‘Once we’ve got everybody having had their second dose, of course then you’ll get this protection that we’re seeing at the moment amongst older people… throughout the whole adult population.

‘That way, we can get out of this and restore our freedoms. But the timing of exactly when we can take that step is the big question.’

The health secretary confirmed the latest advice is that the Delta strain – or the Indian variant – is 40% more transmissible than the Kent one.

He said the Government is ‘not saying no June 21’ but that the mutation had made the decision of whether to go ahead with the final step of easing restrictions later this month more difficult.

‘That means that it is more difficult to manage this virus with the new Delta variant,’ he continued.

‘But crucially, after two doses of vaccine we are confident that you get the same protection that you did with the old variant.

‘So the good news is that the vaccine still works just as effectively.

‘Everybody must go and get their second jab though because the first isn’t as effective on its own.

‘So ultimately it does make the calculation more difficult for June 21 but it doesn’t change our strategy which is we all need to go and get vaccinated and that way we will break this link between the number of cases to the number of hospitalisations.’

This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.

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