London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Covid: Push to close gap in vaccine uptake

Covid: Push to close gap in vaccine uptake

Progress is being made to "close the gap" in the uptake of Covid vaccines, with more people from ethnic minority backgrounds booking jabs, the medical director of primary care for NHS England has said.

But Dr Nikki Kanani - who is also a working GP - said the government was not "tackling all of the hesitancy".

She said NHS staff were now preparing a "weekend of walk-ins" to get jabs done.

More than 60% of the adult population in the UK has now had both doses.

Speaking during a Downing Street briefing, Dr Kanani said that between mid-March and mid-June, uptake rose from 75% to 86% among Asian people and from 55% to 68% for black people.

She said the vaccine programme was "overwhelmingly positive", but added: "We know some people are still anxious about coming forward for their vaccine."

"It's never too late to come forward and take up your vaccine," she said.

"Your vaccine has a name on it, it's for you and it's an evergreen offer."

Walk-in appointments over the weekend would make it "easier than ever" to get a jab, she added - and the NHS was contacting over-40s to tell them they can bring their second appointments forward to eight weeks.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the briefing the government was "intensifying" efforts and was on a "mission" to "get as many people protected" as "quickly as we can".

"We're honing in on areas where uptake is lower," he said, citing London as an example.

Mr Zahawi said the delay to the further easing of restrictions in England until 19 July was saving lives and "allowing us to get more second jabs into arms."


The UK has reported a further 19 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the government's coronavirus dashboard - and a further 16,135 cases, an increase of nearly 5,000 on Tuesday's reported figure.

And the number of people in hospital with Covid has reached 1,508 on the most recent count, taken on Monday.


The message is clear - come forward for the jab.

With cases rising - the 16,135 new cases on Wednesday is the highest since early February - the race is on to get as many people double-dosed as possible.

It has been clear for a number of weeks that infection levels are on the upwards trajectory - and that is resulting in increasing hospital admissions, albeit at a slower rate than in previous waves.

During the winter, around 10% of positive cases ended up in hospital 10 days later.

At the moment this looks to be around 3%, showing the impact vaccines are having.

But if cases keep rising as they are, it's possible we will see in excess of 1,000 admissions a day later in the summer - what the NHS would see for all types of respiratory illness in the middle of a bad winter.

The hope is the wall of immunity built up by the vaccination programme will start to flatten the wave soon.

The more people that are vaccinated, the greater the chance of that happening quickly.

Public Health England's head of immunisation Dr Mary Ramsay, also speaking at the briefing, said case numbers had been increasing since early June "in line with the increased transmission" of the Delta variant - which was first identified in India - but were much lower than they were during the second wave.

She said the higher number of daily cases reported on Wednesday was "largely contributed by" surge testing taking place in Scotland.

And it was confirmed that the number of new Scottish cases of Covid reported in the latest figures is the highest daily total for the nation at any stage of the pandemic.

On Wednesday, 2,969 cases were reported compared to a previous high of 2,649 on 7 January.

The new cabinet secretary for health, Humza Yousuf, told BBC Scotland that the data showed that case numbers were in a period of "exponential growth", but that the government needed to focus on monitoring the link to levels of hospitalisation.


Earlier, Downing Street said the government and Public Health England were monitoring the so-called Delta plus variant of Covid-19.

The prime minister's official spokesman said there had been 41 cases of the mutation, with extra measures in place where it had been found.

Asked by the BBC's Adina Campbell whether official guidance should be updated to reflect reports of symptoms including headaches and runny noses with this variant, Dr Ramsay said she was not "convinced yet".

"I don't think any evidence that we are missing cases," she said.

Dr Ramsay also said there had been a fall in the uptake of other vaccines during the pandemic.

She urged those who needed meningitis and shingles jabs to book appointments and said some babies were behind on their six-in-one and MMR vaccines.

School immunisation programmes, such as the one to protect against HPV, had "struggled" following school closures during lockdown, she added.


"Your vaccine has a name on it, it is for you, and it is an evergreen offer"


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×