Boris Johnson to face questions on vaccine rollout at PMQs

Prime Minister Boris Johnson listens in the House of Commons - Credit: PA

Boris Johnson is likely to face questions on the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine after warnings to abide by lockdown restrictions were stepped up to ease pressure on the NHS.

The prime minister will be grilled by senior MPs on the liaison committee after facing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer during PMQs on Wednesday.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi and health bosses crucial to the jabs programme will also be questioned by the Commons science and technology committee.

With rolling out the vaccines key to easing lockdowns, the latest NHS figures showed 2,431,648 in the UK have received a first dose.

But the health service was under extraordinary pressure with the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital in England at a record 32,202 as of 8am on Tuesday – up 22% on a week ago, and 82% since Christmas Day.

Latest figures showed that as of Tuesday, a further 1,243 people in the UK had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, with a further 45,533 cases being confirmed by labs.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 99,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

The NHS denied a report in the Telegraph that suggested the vaccine rollout was being paused in some areas to allow other parts of the country to catch up.

A spokesman said: “Actually, all GP sites are getting vaccine deliveries this week and next.”

Amid concerns the current restrictions in England may not sufficiently suppress the virus, home secretary Priti Patel said a minority of the public are “putting the health of the nation at risk” as she backed a tougher police approach to lockdown rules.

She told a Downing Street press conference that officers are moving more quickly to issuing fines where people are clearly breaching coronavirus regulations, with nearly 45,000 fixed penalty notices issued across the UK since March.