Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government’s objective has been to protect lives and livelihoods across the United Kingdom. This remains the Government’s priority as the UK eases restrictions.
The UK has made huge progress this year. The procurement of vaccines by the Vaccines Taskforce and the deployment of vaccines by the National Health Service (NHS) has put the UK in a strong position. The UK has vaccinated more of its population than any other country in Europe, with the exception of Malta, and has administered more doses per capita than any other G7 nation.[footnote 1] It is thanks to the success of the vaccination programme that the Government and the Devolved Administrations have been able to ease lockdown restrictions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Vaccines are significantly reducing the link between infections and severe disease and death.[footnote 2] As originally set out in the COVID-19 Response – Spring 2021 (‘the roadmap’), with a sufficiently high proportion of the population vaccinated, the country can learn to live with…
