Nearly three-quarters of Covid hospital patients aged under 50 have not had the vaccine, data from Public Health England reveals.

       Figures showed that most coronavirus-related deaths among younger people also happened to those who had not had their first dose of the vaccine.

       Some 9,472 people were admitted to English hospitals with the highly transmissible Delta variant of coronavirus in the week leading up to 29 August.

       Of those the majority, 5,098 people, were under 50.

       3,742 people – or 73 per cent – of the under-50s were unvaccinated.

       Recommended Lord’s daughter, 25, dies hours after complaining of headache Tories ‘Get Brexit done’ slogan was inspired by disgruntled Yorkshire woman Hardys wine owner warns of shortage ahead of Christmas holidays

       Fourteen per cent had received one dose of the jab and a further 10 per cent had received both doses.

       The figures come as ministers look likely to approve the vaccination of healthy 12- to 15-year-olds against coronavirus after asking the UK’s chief medical officers to review the evidence for a mass roll-out.

       Sage member Professor John Edmunds said on Saturday that there could be “a lot of disruption” to education if the scheme did not go ahead.

       The Delta variant is still overwhelmingly dominant across the UK and now makes up 99 per cent of cases.

       Almost two-thirds of the UK population has been fully vaccinated but this is higher in older age groups.

       Data showed that among the 4,374 people hospitalised who were over the age of 50, 1,322 – or 30 per cent – were unvaccinated.

       A significant 61 per cent of this older age group had been given their second jab.

       This is because, in the general population, more older people have been double-vaccinated.

       Of the 154 deaths of people under 50 recorded, 64 per cent were unvaccinated.

       Last week, the widowed husband of unvaccinated mother-of-four Samantha Willis urged people to get the coronavirus vaccine “so you or your family don’t have to go through what I have had to”.

       Josh Willis went on social media to issue his plea, saying: “As I write this I am laying beside her, she is 35, unvaccinated and in a coffin. Let that sink in!

       Recommended Windrush victims fear being ‘forgotten’ amid Afghan crisis Home Office refuses blanket amnesty for 3,000 Afghan asylum seekers already in UK British soldiers praised for work in ‘emotional’ evacuation from Kabul

       “It’s real, the numbers are real. Get your vaccine so you or your family don’t have to go through what I have had to.”

       He described his wife as a “wonderful, loving and careful person” who had been “our superhero the last few weeks. She is now our guardian angel.”