NHS data has revealed just how many people have already been vaccinated against coronavirus.
Nothing has dominated the headlines and the national consciousness quite like coronavirus this year, so it’s small wonder we’re also scanning the news for updates on the vaccine. We’ve already checked out where we are in the queue for the vaccine with this online calculator, and with the Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Moderna vaccines now in circulation, we’re now wondering just how many people have been vaccinated against the virus. Handily, the NHS and UK Government have been tracking this data, and it’s been revealed that UK vaccinations have crossed another milestone.
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From December 8, when Margaret Keenan received the first Pfizer vaccination, to today (April 20), 33,032,120 people in the UK received an NHS vaccination. That’s over half of UK adults now vaccinated against the virus that ripped across the globe in 2020, with the majority of the jabs administered to people in England. Meanwhile, 10,425,790 people have now had both doses of the vaccine, and means that over 43 million individual jabs have now been administered.
As the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines, the UK has had a bit of a head start when it comes to protecting the population. Of course, there’s still a Herculean effort required to get the whole nation vaccinated – not least because both vaccines require two doses, administered up to twelve weeks apart – but it’s still an excellent start to what will become the largest vaccination effort in UK history. With over 40 million doses of the Pfizer jab and 100 million of the Oxford vaccine on order, along with many millions more from companies such as Moderna, Valneva, and Janssen, there are more enough doses on order to vaccinate the whole UK population.
The government dashboard provides daily updates on the vaccine uptake, so this number is only going to go up in the next few weeks and months. The tireless work of healthcare workers and organisers and vaccine suppliers drove the UK to meet the government-set target of 14 million vulnerable people vaccinated by mid-February, and efforts have only increased from there. You can track the daily vaccination totals here, if you’re interested – and don’t forget to ensure your details are registered with your GP to make sure they can contact you about your own vaccination.