Vaccine announcement: What time is Matt Hancock’s press conference today, January 18?
MATT Hancock is set to address the nation in a press conference this evening. The Health Secretary’s speech comes as Brits over the age of 70 will be invited to have the vaccine from today. What time is Matt Hancock’s press conference today, January 18? Matt Hancock will hold a press conference at 5pm this […]
MATT Hancock is set to address the nation in a press conference this evening.
The Health Secretary’s speech comes as Brits over the age of 70 will be invited to have the vaccine from today.
What time is Matt Hancock’s press conference today, January 18?
Matt Hancock will hold a press conference at 5pm this evening.
He will appear with Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor for NHS Test and Trace.
Steve Powis, medical director of NHS England, will also be there to answer questions.
What is the Health Secretary expected to say?
Mr Hancock is expected to give the latest updates on the UK’s vaccine roll out which has already seen 3.8 million people receive jabs.
Today, 10 more vaccination centres have opened and over-70s and “extremely vulnerable Brits” are now being invited to get the vaccine from today.
Mr Hancock said today: “More than half of all over-80s have had their #coronavirus jab, so I’m really pleased we can now offer jabs to the over 70s & the clinically extremely vulnerable.
“Total focus on getting all the most vulnerable groups jabbed by 15 February.”
The Health Secretary may also add to vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi’s comments this morning that lockdown could be “gradually eased” from early March.
Once the bulk of the most at-risk Brits have had a jab the drastic restrictions could finally start to be relaxed, Mr Zahawi said.
He told BBC Breakfast: “If we take the mid-February target, two weeks after that you get you your protection, pretty much, for the Pfizer/BionTech, three weeks for the Oxford AstraZeneca, you are protected.
“That’s 88 per cent of mortality that we can then make sure are people who are protected.”
That would mean lockdown could start to be relaxed in early March.
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How can I watch the press conference live?
You can follow the press conference live on The Sun’s website at 5pm.
Other most major news outlets will stream the conference, or you can follow it via the UK government’s Twitter page.