Scottish first minister questioned about Alex Salmond claims at first minister’s questions
One in five adults in England under 70 have had their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines, PA Media reports. PA says:
An estimated 20.3% of people aged 16 to 69 had received their first jab as of 21 February, according to NHS England figures.
The estimates show little variation between the regions, ranging from 17.2% in London to 22.3% in north-west England.
Here are the main lines from the No 10 lobby briefing.
[The JCVI] has accepted that local areas should not be stopped from mass vaccination in institutional settings such as prisons, after complaints that it is impractical to separate out prisoners by age.
Although there will not be any formal exemption from the age-based list for prisons, local vaccination teams will be given “more flexibility” to depart from strict priority order to avoid wastage and tackle inequalities of race or class.
We completely reject that characterisation. As you heard the PM say when we signed the agreement with the EU, we’ve delivered on what we promised the British people in both the 2019 election and previously during the referendum in terms of returning sovereignty.
No, I think it demonstrates our commitment to the union and the focus the PM has on ensuring that we deliver for all countries of the United Kingdom.
