PM ‘very confident’ about UK’s vaccines as over-70s urged to get jab

Don’t panic – that’s the message from the Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam, who insisted tonight that people should feel reassured about the UK’s coronavirus vaccines.

A small-scale trial found that the Oxford jab appears to have little impact on mild or moderate cases of the South African variant, but scientists say they’re working hard to have a booster jab ready by autumn.

The most recent government figures show that a further 333 deaths have been reported in the latest available 24-hour period, though totals are usually lower on a weekend, bringing the UK total to 112,798.

There have been another 14,000 new cases in the UK. Just short of 279,000 people received their first dose of the Covid vaccine yesterday. Nearly 12.3 million people have now received their first jab, almost one in four adults.