Over 17.5 million people have received a vaccine so far across the United Kingdom. We have administered over 18.1 million vaccines across the UK - averaging more than 2.5 million doses a week and have vaccinated 1 in 3 adults across the country.

We have now offered a vaccine to everyone in the top four priority groups and we have now vaccinated two thirds of people aged between 65 and 69, after invites went out last week, with people aged 64 set to be called forward this week.

The Government has launched a new social media campaign to allow people to show their support for the vaccine roll-out. People will now be able to display a range of images and GIFs on their social media showing ‘I’ve had my vaccine’ or ‘I’ll get my vaccine’.

Every adult to be offered vaccine by July

Yesterday the Prime Minister announced our ambition to offer a coronavirus vaccine to every adult in the country by the end of July – as our vaccine rollout continues to save lives and allow us to cautiously move closer to returning to normality.

With our vaccination programme already hitting significant milestones and beating initial targets – with a third of adults having received a vaccine – we now want to see the roll-out go further and faster in the coming weeks.  

The Prime Minister has therefore announced plans to bring forward initial targets by aiming to offer a vaccine to every adult by the end of July, as well as vulnerable people in categories 1-9 and those over 50 by 15 April.

These new ambitions will help us protect the most vulnerable sooner and take us closer to easing restrictions – but we must remain vigilant, and later today the Prime Minister will set out a cautious and phased approach to the easing of restrictions

Prime Minister’s Roadmap

Today the Prime Minister will set out our roadmap for a cautious easing of national restrictions, which will ensure we do not undo the incredible progress we have made so far.

In a statement to the House, the Prime Minister will introduce a plan for leaving lockdown that will balance social and economic impacts, while preserving the health and safety of our country.

Our roadmap will set four stages for easing restrictions, and before we progress through each step of our plan, we will examine the latest data to ensure the following four key tests are met:

• The vaccine deployment programme continues successfully.
• Evidence which shows vaccines are effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths of those vaccinated.
• Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which could put unsustainable pressures on our NHS.
• Our assessment of the risks of easing restrictions are not fundamentally changed by new variants.

With the four tests currently met, we will now proceed with the first step, getting all children back into schools from 8 March, as well as prioritising ways for people to safely reunite with their loved ones and the return of outdoor organised sports towards the end of next month.

Together we will cautiously move out of lockdown, so we do not risk the sacrifices each and every one of us has made to keep each other safe as we slowly return to our normal way of life.