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Anyone in England over 18 can now book a covid vaccination (Picture: PA)Young people in England have been praised for embracing Covid-19 vaccinations, with half of all adults under 30 now jabbed.
\nThe milestone was reached after a three-week surge in vaccinations.
\nMore than 4.2 million people aged between 18 and 29 have received a first jab after the coronavirus vaccination programme was opened up to all adults.
\nThe \u2018phenomenal\u2019 achievement comes as hundreds of walk-in vaccination sites \u2013 including at sports stadiums and shopping centres \u2013 opened in England this weekend in a bid to boost the nation\u2019s immunity amid rising covid cases.
\nThe UK recorded another 18,270 infections on Saturday \u2013 the highest daily total since February 5.
\nNHS England director of primary care Dr Nikki Kanani said: \u2018The uptake we have seen among 18 to 29-year-olds in the last week shows how much young adults \u2013 like all those before them \u2013 recognise the importance of getting protected, as the NHS continues to deliver the largest and fastest vaccination programme in history at a phenomenal rate.
\n\u2018NHS teams and their local partners are working flat-out this weekend to vaccinate as many people as possible at convenient walk-in sites up and down the country.
\n\u2018So if you are 18 and over, go along and \u201cgrab a jab\u201d \u2013 with every vaccine in an arm, we are one step closer to our summer freedoms.\u2019<\/p>\n
Half of all young people in England have now received a first jab (Picture: PA)<\/p>\n
Young people queue outside Tottenham Hotspur\u2019s stadium to receive a dose of the Pfizer\/BioNTech covid vaccine (Picture: Will EDWARDS\/AFP)A new online search tool lets people in England input their postcode to find their nearest walk-in vaccination site.
\nThe \u2018grab a jab\u2019 campaign comes as the number of lab-confirmed covid cases rose by 121% on the 8,247 new cases reported last Saturday.
\nSome 76,322,467 vaccine doses have now been administered in total across the UK.
\nThere were 177,515 first doses delivered in the past 24 hours and 133,375 second jabs.<\/p>\n
Young people have embraced the opportunity to get a covid vaccine (Picture: Tottenham Hotspur FC\/Getty Images)Five in every six adults (84%) have now received their first jab, while 61% have received both doses, government figures show.
\nMore than one million vaccination bookings were made between Monday and Wednesday this week.
\nThe NHS is also contacting people aged 40 and over to bring forward their second dose in line with updated expert advice.
\nVaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi thanked NHS staff and vaccinators for their \u2018herculean efforts\u2019.
\nHe added: \u2018Vaccines are the way out of this pandemic and I\u2019d urge everyone \u2013 regardless of age, religion or beliefs \u2013 to get their jabs so we can beat this virus and reclaim all of our lost freedoms.\u2019
\nGet in touch with our news team by emailing us at\u00a0webnews@metro.co.uk.
\nFor more stories like this,\u00a0check our news page.<\/p>\n
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