‘Goosebumps’ as final cohort of vaccine priority list start to get their jabs

People queue outside a vaccination centre
PA Wire

A leading medical expert has spoken of the “goosebumps” she got at the thought of the UK entering the final cohort of its vaccine priority list just six months after the programme started.

Dr Nikki Kanani, director of primary care at NHS England, praised staff as the health service began offering Covid-19 vaccines to all those over 25, from Tuesday.

She told BBC Breakfast that could still remember the day the country started rolling out the first approved vaccine.

“I remember that first day, like all of us will, I was in Croydon at the hospital there and we were watching the footage come in, and you could feel the difference in the air.

“It felt so special that we had hope and we had a way through the most difficult times that I think all of us have ever faced,” she added.

Dr Kanani also revealed how she now had “goosebumps” at the thought of the NHS in England opening up appointment bookings to people aged 25 to 29.

A person receives a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine at a vaccination centre for those aged over 18 at the Belmont Health Centre in Harrow, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in London
A person receives a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine at a vaccination centre
REUTERS

Her comments came after Matt Hancock revealed that as of June 6, England had already delivered 23,710,646 second doses of Covid-19 vaccine, meaning the equivalent of 53.6 per cent of its adult population is fully vaccinated, with 76.4 per cent of adults having received one jab.

Asked whether she thinks the June 21 relaxation of restrictions will still go ahead, she told the programme: “I think we’re doing everything we can.

“This vaccination programme has always promised that, if we have the supply, we will keep rolling out the programme, and, as you can see on this really momentous day, we’ve continued to do so.

“My message to anyone listening today is please, please come forward if you get the message, either for your first dose or your second dose, because that is the best thing that we can all do to start to get back to the lives that we love and that we’ve been missing.

“But the actual (decision on) June 21, that’s one for Government.”

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