Ministers face a ‘big question’ over whether England’s June 21 Freedom Day can go ahead, Leave a comment
Ministers face a ‘big question’ over whether England’s June 21 Freedom Day can go ahead, Matt Hancock said today – amid claims it could be pushed back a fortnight.
The Health Secretary made positive noises today about the link between cases and people going to hospital being loosened by vaccines as the Indian variant drove infections to more than 6,000 a day on Friday.
He told Sky today that vaccines would be rolled out to under 30s this coming week, saying the jabs are the ‘way we can get out of this and restore our freedoms’.
But he was cautious over when that freedom might come.
Last night it was reported that plans are being made to push the lifting of coronavirus measures back to July 5, to allow more people to get the second dose of Covid vaccinations.
Mr Hancock told Sky today: ‘This week we will be opening up vaccines to the under 30s and so we are getting a step closer to the point where we have been able to offer the vaccine to all adults in this country.
‘Then once we have got everybody having had their second dose of course, then you get this protection that we are seeing at the moment among older people, you get that protection among the whole adult population.
‘That way we can get out of this and restore our freedoms.
But the timing of the exactly when we can take that step is the big question.
‘We are not saying no to the 21st of June at this point we will keep watching the Data HK for another week and critically watching that link from the number of cases to the number of people who end up in hospital.
‘It’s absolutely true the number of people ending up in hospital is broadly flat at the moment, while the number of cases is rising, showing that that link is not absolute as it once was.’
The Health Secretary made positive noises today about the link between cases and people going to hospital being loosened by vaccines as the Indian variant drove infections to more than 6,000 a day on Friday.
England’s ‘Freedom Day’ on June 21 may be delayed for two weeks by Boris Johnson, it was reported on Saturday.
According to ITV News, government sources have said that plans are being made to push the lifting of coronavirus measures back to July 5 to allow more people to get the second dose of Covid vaccinations
