Covid vaccine second doses: How Leeds compares to other council areas in delivering jabs to over 60s

The analysis by PA is based on provisional data from NHS England for vaccinations up to May 23 and uses local authority population figures from the Office for National Statistics, which are the best publicly available official estimates.

Leeds comes in 67th in the ranking of council areas in England, with 145,396 people aged 60 and over having received their second Covid jab. This is estimated to equate to 90.3 per cent of all residents in the area in that age group.

The highest percentage of people aged 60 and over to be vaccinated in any local authority area is estimated to be Mid Suffolk at 95.9 per cent, although the much smaller population there means jabs only had to be delivered to 31,260 in order to top the table.

Wakefield is estimated to have the second highest level of coverage at 77,052 people or 88.4 per cent of people aged 60 and over, with Bradford at 93,432 people 86 per cent and Calderdale at 44,338 or 84.4 per cent.

Kirklees, named last week as one of eight areas of concern when it comes to rising cases of the Indian variant, has delivered second doses to 89,043 or 87.1 per cent of the population.

The new vaccine estimates come the day after the Health Secretary stressed that the jabs are working as hoped, but warned the pandemic "is not over yet".

Matt Hancock told MPs on Wednesday that there were 3,180 new cases of coronavirus in the UK, which is the "highest since April 12".

Despite the recent increase in cases, he insisted that the vaccines are working and said he "desperately" wants restrictions to be lifted on 21 June as set out in the Government's roadmap out of lockdown.

Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, whose modelling was instrumental to the UK locking down in March 2020, has said the Indian variant was now “the dominant strain” in the UK and the full reopening of society on 21 June “hangs in the balance”.

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