EVERYONE across the UK aged over 50 should receive a Covid jag "by May," the UK Government’s Cabinet Office has announced, after Downing St said at first it was wrong and then, minutes later, made clear it was right in a chaotic briefing with journalists.
Ministers had previously refused to give a firm date, saying only that the first nine priority groups would be vaccinated by the spring.
In Scotland, concerns have been raised by opposition parties about the slower rollout of the vaccination programme compared to other parts of the UK. Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, has insisted she would not apologise for prioritising vulnerable groups, telling MSPs earlier this week that 98% of elderly care home residents had received their jag.
On Thursday, Downing Street, quizzed about the timescale of the UKwide rollout, repeatedly declined to define when spring would end during a briefing for journalists; the season ends with the summer solstice on June 21.
However, this morning, the Cabinet Office announced the Government intended to vaccinate all of the first nine cohorts by May.
It explained: “The UK’s vaccination programme is planned to have reached all nine priority cohorts by May, meaning the Government can commit to go ahead with these polls with confidence and maintain the choice for voters between voting in person or remotely.”
However, two hours later Boris Johnson’s spokesman repeatedly refused to agree the May timescale put out by the Cabinet Office, insisting the commitment was to have offered vaccinations to all those in the first nine cohorts by “the spring” and that further details would be set out in the mid-February review.
When the spokesman was pressed on why the Cabinet Office knew when spring was but Downing St did not, he replied: “The press notice was issued in error and I believe the Cabinet Office have now withdrawn this. As we have previously set out, our ambition is to offer all priority cohorts vaccination by spring and that remains our position.”
Later during a daily briefing with journalists when it was pointed out that the Cabinet Office’s erroneous announcement was still online, the spokesman paused and then said: “I was wrong in my initial answer in relation to the Cabinet Office press notice. It isn’t actually being withdrawn.”
Asked if it was, therefore, now the case that all nine priority cohorts would be vaccinated by the beginning of May, he replied: “Again, as the PM has said our priority is to offer all the priority cohorts vaccination by spring. The precise timeline will be set out on February 15 when the current target of vaccinating groups one to four expires.”
Pressed that No 10 was now saying, on the one hand, the Cabinet Office timeline was correct but, on the other, it would not confirm this was the case, the spokesman said: “Erm, I’m saying, erm, erm, what the PM has repeatedly said, in terms of what the ambition is, erm, erm, for offering priority roll-outs for vaccination and that’s by the spring.”
He pointed out the official timeline was dependent on the availability of supply but the Government was “extremely confident in the success of our vaccines programme and remain on track to meet this ambition”.
According to Whitehall's vaccines delivery plan, some 32 million people across the UK are estimated to fall into the first nine groups.
The Government is on track to vaccinate the first four cohorts by February 15 – including NHS and care home staff, care home residents, and all those aged 70 and over.
So far, more than 10.4m people in the UK have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Categories five to nine include all those aged 50 and over, as well as adults aged 16-65 in an at-risk group.
Prioritisation for the rest of the population has yet to be determined.
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