COVID-19 vaccinations: More than 30 million people in the UK have now received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine | UK News

More than 30 million people in the UK are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the government.

A total of 30,204,738 people received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine (57.3% of the adult population).

And 41,830,546 received a first jab (79.4%), the health and social affairs ministry said.

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NHS England has now extended the offer of a vaccine to anyone over the age of 23.

And all over 18 in England will be able to reserve a first dose by the end of this week, Downing Street confirmed.

Meanwhile, members of the public who have already had their first jab are being urged to come forward for their second dose to help protect against the threat of new variants of COVID.

To ensure the strongest possible protection for people, second doses for those over 40 will be accelerated by reducing the dosing interval from 12 weeks to eight weeks.

Anyone over 40 who received a first dose in mid-May will be offered a second dose by July 19.

It comes as a new analysis from Public Health England (PHE) has shown for the first time that two doses of a COVID vaccine are very effective against hospitalization of the Delta variant, first detected in India.

Data suggests that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96% effective and that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is 92% effective against hospitalization after both doses.

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: …