Covid news – live: WHO recommends Oxford vaccine as Boris Johnson urges missing two million people to get jab

Photograph: PA

10 years in prison if you hide trip to ‘red zone’ country, says Hancock

Prime minister Boris Johnson has urged two million people in the top four most vulnerable groups to take up the offer of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Speaking at the Downing Street conference on Wednesday evening, he said: "There's no doubt we've made great strides, with just over 13 million people now vaccinated in our United Kingdom, including one in four adults in England, over 90 per cent of everyone over 75 and over 90 per cent of eligible residents of care homes for the elderly.

"But that still leaves nearly two million people, a population roughly twice the size of Birmingham, that we still hope to reach.

"Now is the moment to do it."

It comes as scientists advising the World Health Organisation (WHO) have recommended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for all adults.

The WHO's recommendation for the Oxford jab to be used across all adult age groups has been hailed as "important milestone in extending access to the Oxford-AZ vaccine to all corners of the world" by scientists.

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