Boris hits vaccine target – what happens next?

The government has good news to shout about on Sunday with ministers reaching their target of offering a first dose vaccine to the top four priority groups. In total, 15 million first injections have been offered to the most vulnerable in society. This is two days ahead of the government’s target. 

Announcing the news, Boris Johnson said ‘we have reached a significant milestone in the United Kingdom’s national vaccination programme’. So far the programme has exceeded expectations with the UK one of the fastest countries in the world on vaccinations. This is down to a number of factors including a lot of work on manufacturing and supply chains which took place last year. 

The focus now will turn to vaccinating the over-50s, with the over-65s the next group to be offered appointments. The official target is to offer all over-50s a vaccine by May — officials believe it can be done before then.