UK Has More Than Enough COVID-19 Vaccines for People Under 30 – Health Minister

UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday that the government has secured "more than enough" COVID-19 vaccine supplies to offer all adults under 30 a vaccine other than AstraZeneca’s, whose application has not been recommended for this age sector over concerns that it may cause rare blood clots in younger people.

"There are 10.16 million people aged 18-29 in the UK, 1.6 million of them have already had their first jab … and we have more than enough Pfizer and Moderna vaccine to cover all of the remaining 8.5 million people aged between 18-29 if necessary," Hancock told the Sky News broadcaster.

According to the health secretary, the UK has 40 million Pfizer vaccines in production and another 17 million doses of the Moderna jabs coming through.

"We’ve got more than enough jabs and we are on track to hit the target that we’ve set that we will ensure every adult in UK is offered the jab by the end of July," he stressed.

On Wednesday, the UK government's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization recommended that people under 30 be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca amid concerns that the anti-coronavirus vaccine may cause rare blood clots in younger people.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, which in January approved the application of the drug developed by the UK-Swedish pharmaceutical company and the University of Oxford, said that 51 women and 28 men aged from 18 to 79 developed blood clots after having their first dose in the UK.

The regulator said, however, that these were "very rare side effects" that are still being assessed, and reiterated that the benefits of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine continue to outweigh the risks for most people.