Covid vaccines two years on: Three in five over 50s in Milton Keynes get autumn booster

Three in five over 50s have gotten the autumn Covid-19 booster in Milton Keynes – two years after the first Covid jab was administered to an English NHS patient.

Thursday, December 8 will mark two years to the day that then 90-year-old Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer jab, kickstarting a word-wide rollout of the historic vaccine.

Since then, about 200,500 people in Milton Keynes have been fully vaccinated having received the first and second injection, figures from the UK coronavirus dashboard show.

This means that as of November 30, at least 74.3% of people aged 12 and over in the area have had the first two jabs, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service.

A further 153,900 have received a booster or third dose, with uptake for the third jab standing at 57.1% at the end of November.

Steve Russell, NHS director of vaccinations and screening, said that Covid-19, flu and other respiratory viruses are "still very much with us", and urged eligible people to get their autumn booster to "ensure maximum protection" throughout the festive period.

Further data, which details uptake among people aged 50 and over, shows 59,800 Milton Keynes residents had received the autumn booster by November 30.

It means at least 60.3% of over 50s have gotten the additional dose – just below England's overall rate of 61.9%.

Nationally, 42 million people are fully vaccinated (75.2%) while 33.4 million have received a booster or third dose (59.8%).

So far, more than 16 million people have been administered the autumn booster, including 14.4 million over 50s.

Health Minister Maria Caulfield said the roll out of the vaccine over the past two years has been a "phenomenal feat".

"The power of the Covid vaccine is undeniable – since the UK was the first country to administer a jab outside of a clinical trial, countless lives have been saved across the world thanks to the incredible work of researchers, scientists, doctors, nurses and volunteers."

However, she added that "we can’t be complacent".