The ‘extraordinary’ statistic that shows the success of the UK’s vaccine rollout

The coronavirus deaths among people aged 75 and over has been halving every seven days for the past few week - a rate that has been branded “extraordinary” by a top statistician.

The sharp drop in fatalities among this age group suggests the UK’s vaccine rollout is already having an impact on the country’s battle against the deadly illness.

Dr David Speigelhalter, a statistics professor at the University of Cambridge, has called the numbers “extraordinary".

Speigelhalter shared government data on Twitter showing weekly decreases in number of deaths in the 85+ and 75-84 age groups have averaged at 50% and 47% respectively leading up to February 23.

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The data also shows a faster rate of decrease among older people, who have now had the vaccine, compared to younger age groups.

Deaths among those aged 0-64 and 65-74 have decreased by 41% and 20% respectively and there has even been a recent uptick, according to the figures.

Speigelhalter said: “For deaths and admissions, big gap opening up now between over and under 65s. For over 75s, deaths each day have been essentially halving every *week*. Extraordinary.”

The figures also show a decrease in hospital admissions among older people in vaccinated groups.

The rate of hospitalisations among those aged 85 and over has decreased by 36% while the 65-84 age bracket have seen a drop of 31%.

Meanwhile, 0 to 64-year-olds have seen a significantly lower rate of decrease at 18%.

It comes as the UK hit the 20 million vaccine milestone last week - nearly a third of the country’s population.

Britain has seen one of the highest Covid-19 death rates in the world and the government has been severely criticised for its response to the pandemic.

But the picture has changed for the vaccine rollout, which has so far been one of the most successful in the world.

On December 8 2020, the UK became the first country to start administering a fully trialled and tested Covid-19 vaccine to its citizens.

The government has since pledged that all adults will be offered a vaccine before the end of July - less than eight months after jabs began.

Initially, this deadline was autumn, which demonstrates the success of Britain’s initiative to date.

Meanwhile, the speedier rollout of the vaccine could help ensure all restrictions are lifted by June 21 in line with the Government’s roadmap.

However, fears are emerging that this success could be blighted by the Brazil variant of coronavirus, which has just been identified in the UK.

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Dr Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser to NHS Test and Trace, warned that the variant could spread faster around the UK and have an impact on existing Covid-19 vaccines.

Six cases of the P1 variant first detected in the Brazilian city of Manaus have been found in the country – three in England and three in Scotland.

Health officials are hunting one of the three in England, who remains unidentified after they left out their contact details on their Covid-19 test registration card.