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A third coronavirus vaccine is being rolled out in the UK as figures show nearly two-thirds of adults have had at least one COVID jab.
The UK has bought 17 million doses of the Moderna vaccine – enough for 8.5 million people – and people in Wales will receive the first ones today.
It comes as figures released on Tuesday showed 5,496,716 people in the UK have now received both doses of a COVID vaccine and are therefore fully vaccinated against the virus.
This is the equivalent of 10.4% of the adult population.
Some 31,622,367 people (60% of adults) have received a first dose.
The Moderna rollout will start in England “as soon as possible this month”, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said, but added that commercial sensitivities prevented further disclosures.
Despite the positive figures, official estimates of supplies have been sharply downgraded.
The Cabinet Office has indicated that an average of 2.7 million doses a week will be given in England until the end of July, down from a previous estimate of 3.2 million a week.
But Downing Street has insisted all adults will be offered a coronavirus vaccine by the end of July as planned despite the slowdown.
Supplies of vaccines in April have been constrained by the need to test a batch of 1.7 million doses and delays in a shipment of around 5 million from India.
It comes as a trial of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in children has been paused while regulators investigate reports of a rare form of blood clot among adults.
The University of Oxford said no safety concerns have arisen from the children’s trial and Sage adviser Professor Calum Semple said the decision to pause had been made out of “exceptional caution”, and he urged people to continue accepting AstraZeneca jabs.
The UK’s regulator the MHRA is also investigating reports but has not confirmed when it will present its findings.
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