More than 75% of young adults in Scotland and Wales have had first Covid jab

Scotland has joined Wales in having given one dose of Covid-19 vaccine to more than three-quarters of young adults.

Some 75.1% of people aged 18 to 29 in Scotland are now estimated to have received their first jab.

In Wales, 76.8% of 18 to 29-year-olds have had one dose.

The other two nations are lagging slightly behind, with England on 72.8% and Northern Ireland on 71.8%.

It means around 2.7 million young adults in the UK are still unvaccinated.

Wales also leads the way for 16 and 17-year-olds, with more than two-thirds (67.3%) of this age group having received one dose.

Scotland has managed 60.6% while Northern Ireland is on just 42.5%.

More than half of people aged 16 and 17 in England are reported to have received one dose.

The figures have been published by the UK’s four health agencies.

Birmingham continues to be the local authority in England with the highest estimated percentage of unjabbed 18 to 29-year-olds (50.9%), according to analysis by the PA news agency.

The next highest is Coventry (49.3%), followed by Liverpool (46.2%), the London borough of Islington (46.1%) and Nottingham (44.5%).

In total there are 50 local authority areas in England where at least one-third of young adults have yet to receive any vaccine.

These also include the big cities of Manchester (43.1%), Leicester (41.2%), Sheffield (38.7%) and Leeds (38.2%).