1.7 million people in Yorkshire have had their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine as well as 1 in 4 adults across England.
Greg Fell, the Director of Public Health for Sheffield said in his latest statement that the majority of the elderly and frontline health and social care workers have had the vaccine and that this cohort is on track to be fully vaccinated by the middle of February.
Mr Fell said: “It’s a huge milestone and credit to all those have made that happen and thank you if you have been vaccinated because you are contributing to the norm and people are taking that up in great numbers.”
Patient receiving a Covid-19 vaccination Photo by Steven Cornfield on Unsplash
The government have said that it is likely that the vaccine will become similar to a flu jab. Boris Johnson stated that elderly and vulnerable people should make sure they have a vaccination every year and has no doubt that the vaccines will get better and better.
Professor Anthony Harnden from the Joint Commission for vaccination and immunisation, said: “It is my belief that we will have to end up having an annual coronavirus vaccine probably tailored to the predominant variant.”
The UK should be more or less free of the coronavirus crisis by the end of the year, but some measures may need to stay in place forever according to SAGE committee member Professor John Edmunds.
Mr Fell said: “There are three endgame criteria: that the R0 will be well below 1, community transmission will be akin to 20-30 per 100,00 and a well-vaccinated population -that will be a reality in the not-too-distant future.”
The Covid-19 vaccine has been rolled out by the government this year at an increasing rate since 8 December and will continue to add to the 8 million people who were vaccinated before February.