Up to 10 million extra COVID-19 vaccine doses could be available to UK within days as surge in supply boosts roll-out

Up to 10 million extra vaccine doses could be available to the UK within days following a surge in supply, in another major boost for the country's vaccine roll-out.

As the number of Britons having had their first Covid jab last night topped 22 million, figures revealed the Scottish Government now has access to around 900,000 unused doses.

Though the Government has so far refused to give data on its vaccine supply, the figure from Scotland, which is given a share of the UK's total jab stockpile, means the total across Britain could be up to 10 million.

The boost means the UK could increase the rate it gives out second doses, without impacting on the rate it is giving out the first doses. It will also be a boost to hopes that the Government can extend the roll-out to all over 50s later this month. 

It comes as Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford last night alleviated fears of over a 'dip' in the vaccination.

He told the i newspaper that the dip was now over, as the UK prepares to enter what he described as a 'crucial stage' of its jab rollout.

Mr Drakeford said: 'We are confident that we are past the couple of weeks where there was a dip in supply and we will be getting significantly greater volumes during the month of March.'

Last month the country's highly-praised vaccination roll-out began to stall after getting off to a rapid start - which put the UK far ahead of its European neighbours.

Just 192,000 people were vaccinated on Monday, February 23 and 142,000 the day before, in two of the lowest daily tolls since the mammoth operation began to gather steam at the start of the year. 

Ministers have repeatedly blamed the 'lumpy' supply of vaccines as being the 'rate-limiting factor' of the programme. 

Officials say shrinking deliveries were expected because Pfizer had to improve its key factory in Belgium at the start of the year, and AstraZeneca's production was slower to get off the ground than planned.

However, both drug giants have insisted that there are no unforeseen issues with the supply chain.

The vaccines boost come as everyone aged 56 and over will be invited for jabs from next Monday, NHS England announced this week.    

The over 60s are the group currently top of the vaccine priority list. Last night, the total number of people in the UK to receive their first dose of a Covid jab reached 22.8million.

The Government has so far prioritised those in older age groups and the clinically vulnerable. 

It comes as last night Britain recorded another 5,926 coronavirus cases and 190 deaths as the second wave continues to shrink and Boris Johnson faced more pressure to ease lockdown sooner.

Infections are down 7 per cent week-on-week — even though hundreds of thousands of extra Covid tests were carried out over the past two days because of children returning to schools. 

Fatalities are still falling rapidly, thanks to the combined effect of lockdown and vaccines. Department of Health figures show daily deaths are down by 40 per cent on last Wednesday's toll.   

The EU has conceded the UK did not ban vaccine exports after Boris Johnson slapped down the European Council's president in a fresh row over Covid jabs.

The Prime Minister spoke out after Charles Michel on Tuesday made the astonishing claim that the UK had 'imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines.'

'Let me be clear,' Mr Johnson said at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, 'we have not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine or vaccine component.'

When asked about the claims later on Wednesday, a European commission spokesman acknowledged there was no such ban, but declined to comment directly on the claims made by Mr Michel, the former prime minister of Belgium.

'We know that different countries have got different measures in place – that doesn't concern vaccines, as far as we understand, coming from the UK,' the spokesman said, according to The Guardian.

However, officials did point to a lack of vaccine exports coming from the UK when compared to the EU, with one saying 'we need some transparency on that'.

Figures seen by The Guardian newspaper show that of the 34,090,287 doses exported out of the EU, 9,106,162 went to the UK.

The EU's climb-down comes after after the EU charge d'affairs was summoned to the Foreign Office to 'clarify' the situation earlier today, and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab issued a rebuttal in a letter on Tuesday night. 

Another 290,000 Covid vaccines were also dished out yesterday, with 22.8million Britons now vaccinated. And 1.2million vulnerable adults have now had both doses. 

With Covid metrics dramatically decreasing and the jab rollout steaming ahead, there is mounting pressure from anti-lockdown Tory MPs for an earlier easing of restrictions. The PM faced fresh anger over 'moving the goalposts' today.

He admitted he was under pressure to ramp up the pace of his roadmap as infections and deaths tumble, after Nicola Sturgeon revealed that she is stepping up the loosening in Scotland.

But Mr Johnson warned it is not yet possible to 'get back to normal' with the levels still 'much higher than last summer'. 

He also delivered a stark warning that Covid is starting to 'surge' again in Europe, with infections rising quickly in Italy. France is also seeing the virus bounce back.

No10's top scientists have urged ministers to abide by the cautious roadmap back to normality, which won't see virus-controlling measures completely dropped until June 21 at the earliest. One SAGE expert today warned Britain faced 'very many deaths' if restrictions were relaxed 'too quickly'.  

The promising figures — which will inevitably be used to pile more pressure on No10 to relax restrictions sooner — come after a study today claimed the Kent coronavirus variant was deadlier than original strains of the virus.

Researchers analysed the lethality of the highly transmissible strain — the dominant type circulating in the UK which has rapidly spread across the world.

Data from around 55,000 Britons revealed the B117 variant was 64 per cent deadlier than earlier versions of the coronavirus. But scientists admitted the risk of dying may actually be twice as high for people infected with the Kent strain.

Free Robux Generator   Free Robux   Free Robux Codes   Roblox Free Robux Generator   Working Free Robux Generator 2021

Academics calculated this equated to the disease killing 0.41 per cent of everyone it infected in the study group — or one in 250 people.

For comparison, the original Covid strain had a lethality rate of around 0.25 per cent – one in 400 people — in a separate cohort matched by age and other factors which affect the risk of dying.