65 million Brits to get NHS text for second jab under last-mile vaccine dash

NHS is set to invite more than half a million people for their second Covid jab early as part of a last minute vaccine dash ahead of Freedom Day, state media reports, as daily new infections in England crossed 42, 000. 

In the coming few days, more than 65 million people, who have been waiting eight or more weeks for their second dose will receive a text from ‘NHS vaccine’ to get double-jabbed, following No. 10’s stance on slashing the vaccine gap from 12 weeks to eight weeks.

On July 14, the country hit its target of getting two-thirds of all adults fully vaccinated by Freedom Day, five days ahead of schedule.

Data from NHS England shows that as of July 13, 38 million people in England had received their first Covid vaccine and 29 million had received their second dose, leaving 9 million or so in the queue to get fully vaccinated. 

Despite the huge numbers of vaccinated Britons, daily new cases in the country continue to rise. Latest government figures show that the number of coronavirus cases in the UK has risen by 42,302 in the past 24 hours, which is the highest daily figure in six months.

Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England, has urged that despite the lockdown ending completely on July 19, people should still follow some of the guidelines to protect themselves such as “wearing a mask in enclosed spaces, opening a window if you're meeting in close contact indoors, and getting tested and staying at home if you have symptoms”.

Seeing the continuous rise in cases, England has also revised its Covid travel rules on Wednesday (14), placing greater restrictions on travellers arriving from Spain's Balearic Islands.

The Department of Transport in London said after a "sharp rise in cases", the decision had been taken to move the Balearic Islands as well as the British Virgin Islands to England's "amber" list -- the middle ranking for Covid-19 incidence. 

The Spanish islands, which include Ibiza, Menorca, Majorca and Formentera, were only moved to the UK's green list at the end of June.

"Unfortunately when we put them on the green watch list from then we've seen the rates double, and also the rates of positivity of these tests double, meaning that we're going to have to move quickly," transport secretary Grant Shapps said.