Forex Trading For Beginners 2021: Coronavirus: Latest data shows vaccine reduces transmission

People queue to receive the coronavirus vaccine outside a closed down Debenhams store that is being used as a vaccination centre in Folkestone, Kent

There is "early data" showing a reduction in transmission in people who have had a coronavirus vaccine, the health secretary has said.

Matt Hancock said hospital admissions were falling "much more sharply" than they were in the pandemic's first wave.

The government aims to offer a first jab to all adults in the UK by the end of July, with one in three adults already vaccinated, Mr Hancock said.

The PM will unveil his road map for ending England's lockdown on Monday.

As part of the plan, Public Health England will publish new data on the impact of vaccines on transmission rates.

Mr Hancock told the BBC's Andrew Marr show that he was "absolutely delighted" with the progress of the vaccine rollout.

But he added that while hospital admissions were falling, the level was still "far too high".

The health secretary reiterated the government's new plan to offer a jab to adults aged 50 and over and those in the top nine priority groups by 15 April, followed by all adults by the end of July.

The government's previous target was to offer all adults the first dose by September, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he wants the rollout to "go further and faster".

Mr Johnson has said that this would give vulnerable people protection "sooner" and help to further ease lockdown restrictions across the country.

Mr Hancock said the "success" of the vaccine rollout so far had allowed them to accelerate it, a move he added would have "an impact" on how quickly society would be able to return to normal.

So far, more than 17 million people have received a jab since the rollout began in December last year.

Revealing that one in three adults had already received a jab, he said ministers were "confident" the vaccine worked effectively against the old strain of the virus and the so-called Kent variant.

However, he warned the government did "not yet have the confidence" the jab was "as effective" against the South Africa variant and the variant first seen in Brazil, but that enhanced contact tracing and stricter border controls were reducing the cases of those variants in the UK.

The latest data showed "around a dozen" new cases of the South African variant in the UK, with an overall total of around 300 cases, Mr Hancock added.

Asked if the spread of the South Africa variant was "shrinking", he said: "I think that's a good summary yes".

Meanwhile, Prof Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), told BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House programme that vaccine transmission data was "looking really good", but scientists still needed to estimate by how much the vaccine interrupted transmission.

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Prof John Edmunds, a member of the government's Sage and Nervtag committees, told Andrew Marr that the vaccine rollout should turn to children "as fast as we can".

The infectious diseases expert said: "We're all at risk and we can all spread the virus, and so until we've all been vaccinated - I include children here - then there is going to be significant risk of a resurgence."

Prof Edmunds, who said he had two children of secondary school age, warned there would continue to be "major disruption in schools until we have vaccinated our children".

Downing Street has said that reopening schools remains its top priority for easing England's lockdown, followed by reuniting families and allowing people to have more social contact.