'Less than half of UK population' will get a COVID-19 vaccine

Less than half the UK population can expect to be vaccinated against coronavirus, the head of the government’s vaccine task force has said in an attempt to clear up the public’s perception of the programme’s aim.

Kate Bingham told the Financial Times that vaccinating everyone in the country was “not going to happen”, adding: “We just need to vaccinate everyone at risk.” Her comments come as Boris Johnson on Sunday warned that the country was in for a “bumpy” winter.

He urged Britons to live “fearlessly but with common sense”. However, looking to the latest infection rate data, which has surged despite more than a quarter of the UK living under tighter restrictions, the prime minister said the number one priority was to keep fighting the virus.

A record 22,961 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Sunday, an increase of more than 10,000 compared to 12,872 on Saturday. The government said “an issue” had been identified overnight on Friday, October 2 “in the automated process that transfers positive cases data to PHE”.

As a result, the number of coronavirus cases published between October 3 and October 4 included 15,841 additional cases from between September 25 and October 2.