Forex Trading For Beginners 2021: Covid: More than 10m people fully vaccinated in UK

A woman being vaccinated in Llanelli, south Wales

More than 10 million people in the UK have received a second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced.

"This milestone shows how far we've come in our fight against this virus and I want to pay tribute to the whole team involved," he said on Twitter.

Boris Johnson described the news as "another remarkable milestone".

Thanking the staff and volunteers involved, the PM urged those eligible for the jab to keep coming forward.

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said: "The success of the NHS vaccination programme is not a happy accident. It is down to careful planning coupled with the sheer hard work and determination of doctors, nurses and countless other staff ably assisted by volunteers and many others."

Ministers have said they are on track to offer a first dose to all adults in the UK by the end of July.

People aged 45 and over are now being offered the vaccine in England and Scotland. In some areas of Wales 40-49 year-olds are being invited, while in Northern Ireland vaccine appointments are now being made available to a limited number of 35-39 year olds.

The rollout will continue to prioritise groups by age, according to advice from the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Analysis box by Nick Triggle, health correspondent

The 10 million mark for second doses is a great milestone.

But the rapid acceleration in second doses has come at a cost to first doses - and this spells trouble for the government's ambition to offer every adult in the UK a jab by the end of July.

Currently the UK is doing just over 100,000 first doses a day on average, that is down from 500,000 a month ago.

There was always going to be some drop-off. But on that trajectory just over half of under-50s will get a first dose by the end of July.

Take-up is predicted to be lower in the younger age groups than it has been in the older ones so that shortfall may not be as bad as it first looks.

What is more, there is the hope vaccine supplies will increase. More doses of Moderna may become available, while there is hope the Novavax jab, which is being made in the UK, could come into play in May.

Nonetheless, it is another reminder that the vaccine programme still has many hurdles to cross.

It comes after the government said all over-50s and those in high-risk groups in the UK had been offered a first dose.

Earlier this month the UK began to roll out the Moderna vaccine, alongside the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech jabs.

All under-30s in the UK will be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca jab due to evidence linking it to rare blood clots.

It comes as the prime minister cancelled his trip to India, due to take place on 26 April, amid rising cases there.

Health officials in the UK are investigating whether a variant first found in India spreads more easily and is able to evade vaccines.

Public Health England says 73 cases have been detected in England, and four in Scotland.

India is not currently on the UK government's "red list" - meaning people returning from the country must only quarantine at home for 10 days and not in a hotel.