Britain’s ground-breaking vaccine rollout is one year old today – and has received a royal booster as it gears up to take on the new Omicron variant.
The UK became the first country to begin mass-vaccination when Margaret Keenan, 90, received a jab at University Hospital, Coventry, on December 8, 2020.
‘Oh, it was wonderful. I mean, I can’t believe it now, what happened at the time, because I was quite ill,’ Margaret told reporters today.
‘And you know, with the help I got here at the National Health Service, it really looked after me.
‘And I’m so happy, and I’m so happy I got the jab. And it’s been a wonderful year, really. Wonderful.
‘Sometimes I can’t understand it really, sometimes when people meet me in the street and they say, “Oh you know, thank god for you because I wasn’t going to have this jab.”
‘And it’s lovely to hear that, you know. And even young people have spoken to me. And it makes me feel good.
‘I know, I didn’t think it was going to be so big at the time. But before I had the vaccination, before I came in the hospital room, I was talking about this jab, thinking about this virus that was going around.
‘And thank God, it happened at the right time for me, you know. So I’m so pleased. So I encourage everybody to have it.’
Since then more than 118 million have been given to 51 million people – including 46.6 million second jabs and 20.9 million boosters.
Globally, 8 billion shots have been given in at least 197 countries.
But as cases of Omicron cases double every two days the Prince of Wales and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall said: ‘To those who have not yet had the vaccine or are hesitating before getting a booster, we can only urge you to look at the
evidence in our intensive care wards and listen to those who work there.’
The couple revealed they had both had boosters – but a year on, 6.4 million eligible people have still not had a first jab, including a quarter of those aged 18 to 29.
Some 12% of people aged 30 to 49 have yet to receive a first shot – despite being eight times more likely to die if they become infected.
Last month, 19% of people who died with Covid were unvaccinated, the UK Health Security Agency revealed.
The Government must hit 500,000 a day to reach the target he set of all adults being offered a booster by January 31.
He said: ‘We’re ahead of our own time-table, we’ve done more than 20 million boosters. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t go faster.’
NHS chief Amanda Pritchard appealed for thousands of volunteers to help.
‘One year ago today Maggie’s jab was a moment of hope after months of fear,’ she said.
‘Thousands of volunteers have given over 1 million hours to save thousands of lives. The NHS and the country needs you once again.’
Another 180 deaths with Covid were reported yesterday along with 45,691 new cases – up from 39,716 a week before.
UK Omicron cases jumped a quarter to 437 yesterday and will soon be more widespread than in some African countries on the red list, from where people travelling here must isolate, a scientist has warned.
Professor Tim Spector, of King’s College London, said travel rules were justified when cases were low here but added: ‘When we reach equilibrium, there’s very little point having them’.
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