Norway halts AstraZeneca vaccine as homeless prioritised for jab, Hancock says

Donald Trump is the only living ex-president of the United States not to take part in a new advertising campaign urging Americans to get vaccinated against coronavirus.

The new TV commercials, which launched today, show Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama receiving their own jabs and explaining how important it is others also get the vaccine when offered it.

But Mr Trump is conspicuous by his absence from the adverts, which have been produced by the Ad Council - a charity which makes public service broadcasts.

Despite the former president and his wife Melania both receiving the vaccine in his final days in office, they have not publicised their support of the vaccine and did not join his predecessors in this campaign.

Mr Trump did not allow any official photographs or video to be taken of him being given his jab, NBC News has reported, and declined to comment when asked why he had not joined the new campaign.

Homeless people and those sleeping rough will be given faster access to the vaccine, the government has announced.

The Joint Council on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises ministers on who should get their jab and in what order, recommended homeless people be added to priority group six, which includes those aged under 65 with underlying health conditions making them more at risk.

The JCVI said those who are homeless or sleeping rough are likely to have health problems which make them more vulnerable to Covid. They should be offered a vaccine even if they do not have an NHS number and are not registered at a GP, the committee added.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said he had accepted the JCVI’s recommendation.

“We know there are heightened risks for those who sleep rough and today I have accepted the advice of the independent experts at the JCVI to prioritise those experiencing rough sleeping or homelessness for vaccination alongside priority group six.

“This will mean we will save more lives, among those most at risk in society.”

China has offered to give every athlete taking part in this summer’s Olympic Games a vaccine, the International Olympic Committee has announced.

IOC president Thomas Bach said the “kind offer” to provide vaccines was made by China’s Olympic Committee to cover Olympians from all countries both for the Tokyo games, scheduled for July , as well as for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics next year.

Mayank Aggarwal reports further:

The daily vaccine update has arrived, revealing more than 340,000 people received a jab on Wednesday.

The statistics reveal 243,887 people were given their first dose, and a further 97,162 were given a second vaccine dose, completing their inoculation.

The total of 341,049 is more than 50,000 doses higher than the same number on Tuesday.

It means across Britain 24,405,231 jabs have been doled out so far. Just over 23m people have been given one dose of the vaccine, and a further 1.4m people have now received both their jabs.

The latest statistics from the government have just been released, revealing a further 181 deaths of people within 28 days of a positive Covid test were reported on Wednesday.

This means the total confirmed death toll in Britain during the pandemic now stands at 125,168.

A separate set of data published by the UK’s statistics agencies, counting how many times coronavirus was mentioned on a death certificate, reports an even higher death toll of 147,000.

The Government also said that, as of 9am on Thursday, there had been a further 6,753 lab-confirmed cases in the UK. This brings the total to 4,241,677.

Europe has approved Johnson & Johnson’s single dose vaccine, paving the way for the first shots to be delivered in a month as the bloc seeks to speed up a stuttering inoculation campaign and boost its supplies.

The jab is the fourth to be endorsed for use in the European Union after vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech , AstraZeneca-Oxford University and Moderna , and is recommended for those over 18, the European Medicines agency (EMA) said. It’s the first single-dose Covid-19 vaccine.

The United States, Canada and Bahrain have also approved the shot. The UK has ordered 30 million doses, pending approval by the medicines watchdog.

Homeless people will be prioritised for coronavirus vaccinations alongside adults in at-risk groups, the government says.

Matt Hancock said the decision would “save more lives among those most at risk in society”. Zoe Tidman reports:

A total of 23,053,716 people in the UK have now received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to Government figures.

This is the equivalent of 34.5% of the total UK population, and 43.8% of people aged 18 and over.

In England 19,587,080 people had received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine up to yesterday, according to NHS England.

This is the equivalent of 34.8% of the total population of England.

In Scotland, as of 7.30am today, 1,825,800 people had received their first dose of a vaccine, according to the Scottish Government.

This is the equivalent of 33.4% of the total population of Scotland.

About one in every five Americans has lost a relative or close friend due to the coronavirus, according to a new poll – showing the impact of the novel virus on the country one year into the pandemic. Danielle Zoellner reports: