UK Expands Covid Vaccination Programme To All Above 25

"Every day brings with it another exciting milestone in our vaccination programme - the largest and most successful in NHS history," UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

The UK's health service on Monday declared it had hit a new "exciting milestone" in its COVID-19 vaccination programme as it confirmed that all adults aged 25 and over will be offered their first dose of a vaccine from Tuesday. The expansion of the vaccine drive coincided with the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock's statement to the House of Commons, where the minister revealed that vaccines have averted an estimated 39,000 hospitalisations and more than 13,000 deaths in the country. He also said that of 12,386 cases of the Delta variant - or the B1.617.2 variant first detected in India - 126 people were admitted to hospital and of these, 83 were unvaccinated, 28 had one dose and three had two doses. "Every day brings with it another exciting milestone in our vaccination programme - the largest and most successful in NHS history," said Hancock.