Hopes for lifting lockdown on 5 July rise as Covid jab bookings top 1 million in 2 days

More than one million Covid-19 jabs were booked in just two days after the NHS vaccination programme opened to all remaining adults in England.

The huge surge in bookings comes as health experts say the successful vaccination drive could see all remaining lockdown restrictions lifted ahead of schedule on 5 July, two weeks earlier than currently planned.

Hundreds queue for jabs

A total of 1,008,472 vaccine appointments were arranged over Friday and Saturday (18-19 June) via the booking service, averaging more than 21,000 every hour, or six every second, NHS England said.

The full figure is likely to be higher as it does not include appointments at local GP-led vaccination services or people receiving the jab at walk-in centres

Hundreds of people queued at Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium in London on Sunday (20 June) for their jabs, while similar pop-up centres opened at the Olympic Stadium, Stamford Bridge, Charlton Athletic FC, Selhurst Park and Crystal Palace Athletics Centre on what has been dubbed “Super Saturday”.

The huge vaccination drive has seen the NHS administer around 62 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since Margaret Keenan became the first member of the public to get a jab on 8 December 2020.

A total of four in five adults have now received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, with three in five now fully vaccinated, according to NHS England

And since the rollout extended to younger people, almost nine million in their twenties and thirties have now received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.