UK vaccine supply: is the Covid jab supply delayed, why are there issues - and will under 50s now have to wait?

NHS England has warned that the UK faces a month-long reduction in its Covid vaccine supply from April.

The expected “significant reduction”, confirmed by health leaders on Wednesday 17 March, is partly due to a delay in a delivery of five million AstraZeneca doses from India.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine accounts for roughly 75 per cent of doses administered in the UK so far, with the Pfizer-BioNTech jab representing the remaining 25 per cent.

More than 25 million people in the UK have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Around 1.7 million have been inoculated twice.

So, is the UK’s vaccine supply going to be delayed, why are there issues - and what does it mean for under 50s?

Here is everything you need to know.

Is the UK’s vaccine supply delayed?

In a letter to local health organisations, NHS England warned of a reduction in the Covid vaccine supply next month.

The letter said the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce had predicted that “reductions in national inbound vaccines supply” would “continue for a four-week period”.

It asked vaccination centres and pharmacy-led jab services to close unfulfilled bookings and “ensure no further appointments are uploaded” to booking systems in April.

Despite the reduction, the Department of Health has insisted it is still on track to offer a first dose of a vaccine to all adults by the end of July.

Prof Adam Finn, a member of the government’s Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI), told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the disruption meant the country’s jabs rollout would go from "extremely fast to somewhat less fast", rather than "juddering to a halt".

But both AstraZeneca and Pfizer have insisted that there is no threat to supplies, appearing to contradict the letter from NHS England.

The two major vaccine manufacturers said they remained on course to meet their delivery schedule.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson said: "Our UK domestic supply chain is not experiencing any disruption and there is no impact on our delivery schedule."

Why are there vaccine supply issues?

The predicted reduction in the UK’s vaccine supply is partly down to a delay in the delivery of millions of doses from India.

A shipment of five million AstraZeneca doses, produced by the Serum Institute of India, has been held up by four weeks, according to the BBC.

A spokesperson for the Serum Institute of India told the broadcaster: "Five million doses had been delivered a few weeks ago to the UK and we will try to supply more later, based on the current situation and the requirement for the government immunisation programme in India."