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'All adults to be vaccinated by September in UK': Dominic Raab

WION Web Team
London, United KingdomUpdated: Jan 17, 2021, 08:50 PM IST
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Dominic Raab. Photograph:(Reuters)

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Dominic Raab also claimed the government is hoping to at least relax some restrictions by the month of March, but cannot guarantee it

As the Boris Johnson-led government announced plans of vaccinating at least two million people in a week, the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has assured that all adults will be vaccinated by the month of September.

Raab, during an interview with a local media house, revealed that vaccinating two million adults by September is the aim that the government is working towards.

However, he also added that he predicts the government will be able to achieve this target before September.

This roadmap, however, is specifically for the first dose of the vaccine, and not for the second dose. 

"Our target is by September to have offered all the adult population the first dose. If we can do it faster than that, great, but that’s the roadmap," he said.

Raab denied guaranteeing the same promise for the second dose of the vaccine being administered within 12 weeks. The government "ought to be able to deliver on that," he said.

He also claimed the government is hoping to at least relax some restrictions by the month of March, but cannot guarantee it. 

"What we want to do is get out of these national lockdowns as soon as possible, the roadmap that I described is that by early spring, hopefully by March, we'll be in a position to make those decisions," he said.

This time, too, the government is aiming to lift the lockdown in phases. "I think it's right to say we won't do it all in one big bang; as we phase out of the national lockdown, I think we'll end up phasing through the tiered approach."

"We want to make sure that we can do it in a safe way but again, we've got to, at this point in time, really focus on protecting the NHS and rolling out the vaccine."