Two-thirds of UK adults have now received both doses of Covid-19 vaccine

14 July 2021, 14:57 | Updated: 14 July 2021, 16:08

Two-thirds of adults in the UK have now received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

A total of 35,155,767 second doses have now been delivered since the vaccination rollout began in December last year.

This is the equivalent of 66.7% of all people aged 18 and over.

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Health Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: "Two thirds of adults across the UK have now had two jabs.

"We have beaten our target by almost a week - this is a huge achievement.

"Thank you to everyone who has come forward. The vaccine is our wall of defence against the virus."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson added: "Barely eight months since the first vaccine, two-thirds of UK adults have had both doses.

"Thank you to everyone coming forward and to those helping others get jabbed. You are the reason we are able to cautiously ease restrictions next week. If you're over 18, book both your jabs now."

It comes ahead lockdown restrictions being eased to varying degrees in the four nations of the UK over the coming weeks.

From July 19, most mandatory coronavirus restrictions in England will end, including the legal requirement to wear masks, with night clubs set to reopen.

Scotland will also ease restrictions on Monday, however this will include "some modifications" including mandatory mask wearing, social distancing and limits on group sizes.

Wales is hoping to remove most remaining restrictions from August 7 if Covid rates allow, however masks will also remain mandatory indoors.

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Of the four nations, Wales has the highest proportion of adults fully vaccinated, with 73.8% estimated to have received both jabs (1,861,700 second doses).

England is next on 66.5% (29,429,018 second doses), followed by Scotland on 65.7% (2,914,904 second doses) and Northern Ireland on 65.4% (950,145 second doses).

The latest figures, which have been published by the UK's four health agencies, also show that an estimated 87.4% of UK adults have now received a first dose of a vaccine - though the rate of vaccinations has been slowing in recent weeks.

Wales again leads the other nations, with 90.3% of adults estimated to have had a first jab, ahead of Scotland (89.0%), England (87.3%) and Northern Ireland (81.7%).

Recent analysis by Public Health England suggests that one dose of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine reduces the risk of symptomatic disease with the Delta variant of coronavirus by approximately 35% and hospital cases by 80%, while a second dose boosts protection to approximately 79% against symptomatic disease and 96% against having to go to hospital.