Edward Timpson MP welcomes acceleration of vaccine rollout in Eddisbury

Eddisbury MP Edward Timpson has welcomed the Government’s Vaccines Delivery Plan – the biggest vaccination programme in British history – that sets ambitious targets as the Government continues to ramp up its vaccine rollout.

Already in Eddisbury, 34 per cent of the population have received a vaccine – and with the programme averaging more than 2.5 million doses a week, the Prime Minister is aiming to have offered every adult a vaccine by the end of July.

The United Kingdom is leading the way with its vaccination programme. So far, more than 18.6 million people have received a vaccine – equivalent to 1 in 3 adults. This is the third highest take-up per capita, behind only the United Arab Emirates and Israel. Indeed, only two countries have administered more doses than the United Kingdom – China and the USA.

Everyone in the top four priority groups has now been offered a vaccine, as invitations are now being sent to those in priority groups 5 to 9. The latest figures now show that two-thirds of those aged 65 to 69 have been vaccinated.

Mr Timpson has also welcomed the Prime Minister’s roadmap to take cautious and irreversible steps out of lockdown, which will be guided by the data and not dates.

Eddisbury MP, Edward Timpson CBE said:

“The NHS vaccination programme—the biggest in our country’s history—has been a fantastic success, and showcases the very best of public and private collaboration across the entire United Kingdom.

"I would like to thank everyone involved in this enormous effort, without whom, this would simply not be possible. I've really enjoyed meeting other volunteers at the Cheshire View vaccination centre when I've been marshalling the car park!

“It’s also great to see that 34 per cent of people in my constituency have received the vaccine as we lead the world in our fight back against coronavirus.

“We are defeating this virus by the hundreds of thousands of jabs going into people’s arms every day, giving us hope as we look to a route back to normality.”

• Delivering more than 19.3 million vaccines so far, to over 18.6 million people, as we lead the world with our programme. 1 in 3 adults have now received a vaccine. In England, everyone in the top four priority groups have now been offered a vaccine, and we have now vaccinated two thirds of people aged between 65 and 69, after invites went out last week, with people aged 64 set to be called forward this week. We are  also leading the world with our Vaccines Delivery Plan – only two countries – the United States and China – have vaccinated more people than the UK.

• Securing access to over 400 million vaccine doses through agreements with seven separate vaccine developers – giving the UK the best shot of having early access to a vaccine when one is found to be safe and effective. This includes 100 million doses of the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, 40 million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, 7 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, 60 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, 100 million doses of the Valneva vaccine, 60 million doses of the GSK/Sanofi Pasteur vaccine and 30 million doses of the Janssen vaccine.

• Investing more than £230 million into manufacturing any successful vaccine. An enormous amount of planning and preparation has also taken place across Government to be able to quickly roll out a vaccine, including ensuring we have adequate provision, transport, PPE and logistical expertise to do so.