As it happened: PM announces new England lockdown in TV Covid address

The prime minister says by the middle of February, “if things go well”, the government expects to have
offered a first vaccine dose to everyone in the four top priority groups.

This includes vaccinating all residents in a care home for
older adults and their carers, everyone over the age of 70 and all frontline health
and social care workers

If we succeed in vaccinating all those groups “we will have removed
huge numbers of people from the path of the virus”, he says.

“That will eventually enable us to lift many of the restrictions we have
endured for so long.”

Johnson stresses there will remain a time lag of two to
three weeks from getting a jab to receiving immunity, and there will be a further time lag before the pressure on the NHS is lifted.

“So we
should remain cautious about the timetable ahead,” he adds.

“But if
our understanding of the virus doesn’t change dramatically once again, if the
rollout of the vaccine programme continues to be successful, if
deaths start to fall as the vaccine takes effect, and,
critically, if everyone plays their part by following the rules, then I
hope we can steadily move out of lockdown, reopening schools after the February
half term and starting, cautiously, to move regions down the tiers.”