Queue for FREEDOM: Covid jab lines stretch for ‘MILES’

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Young people stood in three-hour-long queues running ‘miles down the beach’ in Scotland today in another display of Britain’s eagerness to get vaccinated.  

Footage taken in Troon, South Ayrshire, at around 9am today shows a line of people facing the ‘hours long’ wait to use the town’s drop-in vaccination centre at Walker Hall, which is offering jabs until 6pm. 

NHS Ayrshire & Arran officials said that the busiest time was first thing in the morning as hopefuls had arrived before the centre opened – but by 11.30am the queues had died down to a wait of less than 30 minutes, falling to five minutes later on. 

At 3.14pm the health service had said that there is currently ‘no queue’, adding that those who attend must be an adult living in Ayrshire  who has not had a first dose of vaccine and does not yet have a blue appointment letter. 

Across the country in Stanmore, Greater London, Belmont Health Centre saw long queues over the weekend after opening for walk-in appointments to over-18s who live or work in Harrow and have yet to have their first Covid-19 vaccinations. 

Britain today saw 5,341 positive coronavirus tests reported, with four new deaths. The latest figures reveal 76.6% of the adult population have now received their first vaccine jab, and 52.5% have had their second dose. 

It came as Matt Hancock today warned that ministers are ‘open’ to delaying England’s June 21 Freedom Day if data on Covid cases ‘turns bad’ in the next week.  

The Health Secretary suggested that the link between cases and hospitalisations is being loosened by vaccines as the Indian variant drove infections to more than 6,000 a day on Friday, and told Sky News today that vaccines would be rolled out to under 30s this coming week.

But he was cautious over when that freedom might come, as he confirmed that the Indian variant is 40 per cent more transmissible than the previously dominant Kent variant.  

The news comes as: 

• Ex-PM Tony Blair called for vaccinated Britons to be released from coronavirus restrictions saying it is ‘time to distinguish for the purposes of freedom’ between those who have been jabbed and those who have not.
• Vaccinations could be offered to schoolchildren aged between 12 and 15 as early as August, as Health Secretary Matt Hancock warns of a surge in Covid-19 cases in schoolchildren. 
• Boris Johnson plans to use the G7 summit to secure a global pledge to vaccinate the world’s population against Covid-19 by the end of 2022.  
• Matt Hancock was accused of working with Michael Gove and ‘killing British travel abroad’ amid a furious Cabinet row over foreign holidays.

Today’s vaccine centre scenes are reminiscent of those outside University College London yesterday where supplies ran out at a clinic held by NHS Camden. 

Some vaccine hopefuls had started queuing as early as 5am in a bid to be among the first 450 people given a ticket to receive their jab, but thousands of students were later turned away.

And today the Science Museum, which is being used as a coronavirus vaccination centre, was evacuated for an hour ‘as a precaution’ amid reports of a ‘suspicious bag’.  

But the museum’s Twitter account revealed at 2.50pm that the venue has reopened to visitors.

The museum had offered its premises for use as a vaccination centre, and those who attended would be able to see a quick preview of its new Covid display.

Empty vials of the first vaccines use across the world are being showcased along a timeline of important objects from the history of vaccines. 

Also among the collection are homemade masks, Covid-themed greetings cards, recording the current crisis so future generations can learn from it. 

The museum’s director Sir Ian Blatchford had told the FT: ‘Our museum can both tell the story of how vaccination has saved millions of lives, and also play a part in ensuring vaccines protect the nation from Covid-19.

‘It is an extraordinary sensation to be collecting and living history all at once.’

A total of 57,193,641 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between December 8 and June 5, according to NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 590,645 on the previous day.

NHS England said 33,700,486 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 175,001 on the previous day, while 23,493,155 were a second dose, an increase of 415,644.

Northern Ireland recorded 69 new cases, Scotland saw 775, and Wales has 92 new cases. There were no new deaths recorded for any of them. 

Covid cases had jumped by 70 per cent in a week on Saturday, reaching 5,765.  

This was down slightly from Friday, which saw Britain record its highest number of new confirmed coronavirus cases – 6,238 – since late March, according to official figures.  

Stats from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested the number of people who had the virus in England has increased by around three-quarters in a week, taking it to its highest tally since mid-April, with the R value between 1 and 1.2.

Several reports have suggested plans to lift all Covid restrictions on June 21 could be scaled down, with social distancing and the wearing of face coverings set to continue. 

Government sources had told ITV News plans are being made to push the lifting of coronavirus measures back to July 5 to allow more people to get the second dose of Covid vaccinations.

And a government scientist has warned that pushing ahead with a full reopening later this month in England would be ‘foolish’ and a ‘major risk’.  

Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B) which advises the Government, said the criteria about the current assessment of the risks not being fundamentally changed by new variants of concern is ‘not upheld’.

‘I think by the Government’s own criteria it’s quite clear that it would be foolish to proceed on the data that we’ve got at the moment. The risk would be very great indeed,’ the professor said.

‘And of course it’s a balance of risks but I think it would be a major risk to go further in opening up.’

He added: ‘Again, I make the point that it is about data not dates, and if you make it too much about the dates then you box yourself into a corner and I think that’s what the Government has done.’

Saturday was the third day in a row that saw cases exceed 5,000.   

Thirteen more Covid deaths had been reported on Saturday — rising 85.7 per cent on the previous Saturday’s figure.