The Government will formally apply to join a mammoth free-trade pact including Australia, Canada, Japan and Singapore, under its post-Brexit plans. International Trade Secretary Liz Truss will ask to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in a conversation with ministers in Japan and New Zealand on Monday. Negotiations are expected to start later this year, Ms Truss’s department said, announcing the move on the.
Boris Johnson and health experts defend AstraZeneca jab as Germany moves to limit Covid vaccine to under-65s Barney Davis
Boris Johnson and Public Health England have defended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after German experts recommended it should only be offered to under 65s.
The Prime Minister and health experts spoke in support of the jab following the draft recommendation from Germany s vaccination advisory committee, which argued there was insufficient data to recommend it for those aged 65 and over.
Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at PHE, acknowledged there had been too few cases of coronavirus in older people in Phase 3 clinical trials to determine the level of efficacy in this age group, but said other data on immune response had been reassuring .
Labour: Government made ‘monumental mistakes’ in handling of pandemic Sophia Sleigh
Labour today said the Government had made monumental mistakes in its handling of the pandemic.
Mr Ashworth told BBC Radio 4 s Today programme: We re roughly 12 months on from the first case being identified in the United Kingdom, to think that we ve lost 100,000 people in the past 12 months is horrendous. We talk about statistics but every individual would have had families, friends, who are grieving and will be grieving particularly today I suspect, and of course within that cohort of people we ve lost thousands who were in care homes and I m afraid were left exposed and unprotected.
London administers lowest number of vaccine jabs of any region in England Luke O Reilly
London has adminstered the lowest number of coronavirus vaccine jabs of any region in England.
Londoners received 667,301 jabs between December 8 and January 23, including 612,045 first doses and 55,256 second doses.
In comparison, people in the Midlands were given 1,081,988 first doses and 67,194 second doses, a total of 1,149,182 between December 8 and January 23.
However, it is worth noting that the capital has a proportionately smaller elderly population, and the over-80s remain first in line for the jab.
Here is a breakdown for the other regions in England:
North East and Yorkshire – 927,119 first doses and 71,744 second doses, making 998,863 in total