Expert warns 'big third wave' of covid could cause thousands of deaths

An expert has warned there could be a "big third wave" of coronavirus in the UK, even with the success of the vaccine programme.

Professor Jeremy Brown, a member of the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation, warned that there could be potentially tens of thousands of deaths in a third wave of covid-19.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme he said: "I feel mighty relieved that we are now in a position where a very high proportion of the vulnerable population have been vaccinated so, if control of the virus is lost, then the damage it can do will be relatively restricted.

"But when I say relatively restricted, what I mean is that a big third wave could still end up with 30,000 to 50,000 deaths, potentially, if it was a similar sort of size to the previous waves that we've had.

"So although the vaccines are important, there are the components to controlling this virus that are important and that is the social distancing measures that we have.

"Now, those will be less necessary the higher proportion of the population gets vaccinated, which is another reason why young people vaccination is important, is that for population control, the bigger the proportion of the population that the vaccinated, the less we will need in a way of social distancing."

Prof Brown added that young people would also want to get their jab to reduce chances of getting long Covid and reduce their risk of infecting others.

Prof Brown's warning comes as people over 45 are now able to book a vaccine via the NHS website.

It signals the start of "Phase 2" of the vaccination programme, which involves offering vaccines to healthy adults aged under 50.

The move comes as it was announced that the Government has met its target of offering the vaccine to all adults over the age of 50.

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In England it has been estimated that 19 in 20 of those who have already been offered the jab have taken up the offer.

Until now, the NHS had been focusing on offering vaccines to those deemed to be at highest risk - people over the age of 50, those deemed to be "clinically extremely vulnerable" and health and social care workers.

When its online booking system opened up to include people over the age of 45, the website crashed for many, but the problem was soon fixed.