The Health Secretary told the House of Commons the vaccination push – including the boosters – is something the UK can be proud about. Hitting back at opposition claims the rollout had stalled, Mr Javid said: “We should not talk down our world successful programme. fper“And when it comes to the booster vaccines, we have delivered across the UK vaccines to 26 percent of the population over the age of 12.”

       He spoke out as new data yesterday showed third doses of the vaccine have already helped increase the level of Covid antibodies among the older age groups.

       Some 95.8 percent of over-80s in England were likely to have tested positive for antibodies in the week to November 7, up from 87.9 percent a month earlier, with 75 to 79-year-olds seeing a jump from 86.9 percent to 95.8 percent in the period.

       The presence of Covid antibodies suggests people are better able to fight the virus.

       But statistics revealed the number of weekly deaths involving coronavirus in England and Wales passed a thousand for the first time in eight months to reach 1,020. This is up three percent from the previous week’s toll of 995 deaths.

       Yesterday’s daily Covid figures showed some 42,484 new infections and 165 deaths.