SIXTY million doses of coronavirus vaccine have been secured for a boost programme later this year, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed.
Speaking at a Downing Street press briefing yesterday, Mr Hancock said the Government had order the doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
He said: "To keep us safe and free here, while we get this disease under control across the whole world, we have been working on a programme of booster shots for over a year now.
“And we’ve backed some of the only clinical trials in the world looking specifically at booster shots.I’m delighted to be able to tell you we’ve secured a further 60 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be used alongside others as part of our booster shot programme later this year.”
The Health Secretary also said the Government had the “first concrete evidence” of how vaccines reduce transmission of Covid-19 within households.
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He said data shows one dose of a vaccine found they were up to 50 per cent less likely to pass on the disease to others in their household.
“We’re looking at whether the second dose gives an even bigger effect,” Mr Hancock said.
“We know that indoor settings have the highest risk of transmission so these results are really encouraging in terms of the impact of the vaccine on reducing transmission.
“What it means is the evidence is stacking up that the vaccine protects you, your loved ones and it is the way out of this pandemic.”
Mr Hancock also welcomed the findings of an Office for National Statistics study, which showed 70 per cent of adults in the UK now had Covid antibodies saying it was "the vaccination programme in action.”
The Health Secretary confirmed the UK would be sending more supplies to India, describing the coronavirus situation in the country as "harrowing".
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