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There are growing fears the spread of the Indian Covid-19 variant could delay the end of lockdown next month.
Professor Adam Finn, from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has suggested it is “perfectly likely” things could turn out differently to what the government has planned for lifting all social-distancing restrictions on 21 June.
He told Sky News: “I really hope that these current concerns around this variant evaporate, that everything goes to plan, but I think we just have to accept the possibility that we’re in for another big wave and that we will have to change what we’re doing.”
Government ministers and officials are said to be concerned about a “small but significant” minority of people who are declining to get the coronavirus vaccine when offered.
An unnamed minister told the Politico website vaccine refusers were the “principal threat” to the planned lifting of further lockdown curbs next month.
Professor Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine…
