Additional £22.5m of funding announced to encourage vaccine uptake

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced today that it will allocate £22.5 million of funding to councils to encourage vaccine uptake in the run up to Christmas and the New year.

The so-called Community Vaccines Champion scheme will target 60 local authorities with the lowest vaccine uptake.

The funding will contribute to a series of initiatives, such as a travelling vaccine bus, extra pop-up sites and new vaccine centres in prominent locations will make it as easy as possible for people to get their jabs.

This news comes as the UK hits 26 million boosters and third doses administered following the announced acceleration of the vaccination programme.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “We are in a race between the virus and vaccine and we are doing everything in our power to get jabs in arms as quickly as possible”.