London (PA-media/dpa) – A potential for coronavirus cases to «reignite» still exists as many adults remain unvaccinated, a former chief scientific adviser to the Government has warned.
Professor Sir Mark Walport, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: «We are on the cusp of being able to move to the next step of relaxation, it’s absolutely right that vaccines have been spectacularly successful but not everybody is protected.»
«We’ve got 35 per cent of adults who are not vaccinated and 60 per cent who have only had one dose and the truth is the virus has not gone away.»
«The mistake that has been made repeatedly really is relaxing just slightly too early. What we need to do is get the numbers right down, it’s important that we don’t act as an incubator for variant cases that might be able to resist immunity.»
He said there are still around 4,600 new cases a day across the UK, adding: «There’s the potential for that spark to reignite, it seems increasingly unlikely, but we need to get the numbers down.»