All over-18s will be receiving COVID jab within weeks to halt spread of Delta strain

As the UK reports no new COVID deaths for the first time since last summer, it is now preparing to vaccinate all adults within the next few weeks.

A third wave to come?

The news comes as experts have voiced fears that a third wave will soon be hitting the UK in light of the Delta variant—formally known as the Indian mutation.

As it stands, only those aged 30 and up have been invited to receive the first dose of the vaccine, but in an attempt at halting the spread of the virus as much as possible, the government is expediting administration of jabs to all adults in the UK.

Teens and young adults most at risk

New research has shown that the Delta variant is affecting those as young as 17 and 18 at an exceptionally high rate which could prove dangerous for the more vulnerable they are in contact with.

As a result, Dominic Harrison, the director of public health in Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire—which has the country's highest rate of COVID infections, has been urging the government to start vaccinating teenagers as soon as possible:

We desperately need the UK Government, the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] to pass the Pfizer vaccine as safe and effective for that age group.

And added:

Now the USA, Canada, Singapore and the European Union have all in the last week said that's Pfizer BioNTechvaccine is safe and effective for 12 years and above and I just hope the UK Government can get on with passing that, assuming that they agree that we could then get into rapid vaccination for that cohort, before the end of term.

Because that would help not just with protecting the whole population through an increased number of people vaccinated, but reducing transmission in that group.