Covid-19: More confidence vaccines work on all variants - PM - BBC News

People queue for Covid-19 vaccinations at the ESSA academy in Bolton where mass vaccinations are taking place to try and combat rising levels of the Indian coronavirus variant on May 18, 2021 in Bolton, England.

There is "increasing confidence" that Covid-19 vaccines are effective against all variants, including the Indian one, Boris Johnson has said.

At Prime Minister's Questions, he said fresh data had been reviewed earlier on Wednesday.

He also thanked people in Indian variant hotspots Bolton and Blackburn for getting a jab "in record numbers".

The spread of the Indian variant has cast doubt on plans to ease remaining restrictions in England next month.

The prime minister's spokesman said Mr Johnson had been referring to data on daily case rates in his PMQs answer - as well as to studies published in the UK and elsewhere that showed "high levels of efficacy" for the vaccines.

He said, however, that ministers would want to see more information before making decisions on the next steps toward lifting lockdown.

On Tuesday, the prime minister said the situation with the Indian variant, which is thought to spread more easily, was being closely reviewed but there was "nothing conclusive" in the current data that meant England "would have to deviate from the roadmap" out of lockdown.

This means legal limits on social contact could still end on 21 June.

There have now been 2,967 cases of the Indian - or the B.1.617.2 - variant identified, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the Commons, as he announced the deployment of surge testing in more areas of the country, including Hounslow, Leicester and North Tyneside.

At PMQs, Mr Johnson also repeated his warning that people should not be holidaying in amber list countries. This includes France, Spain and Greece.

Visits to those countries should only be made in "extreme" circumstances such as a family illness, he said. If people ignore that advice they could face fines of up to £10,000.

On Monday, the government lifted the ban on international travel.

In its place, a traffic light system has been brought in which divides destinations into three categories - green, amber and red, according to risk.

Passengers arriving from amber list countries are required to self-isolate for 10 days and take two tests.

Mr Johnson said the government was "trying to move away from endlessly legislating for everything and to rely on guidance and asking people to do the right thing".

Analysis box by Nick Triggle, health correspondent

There's growing confidence the vaccines will remain effective against the variants that are emerging.

Lab work using blood from vaccinated people to see how well they block the variant viruses from infecting cells shows some drop-off in potency - and this is what has caused such concern in recent months.

The biggest drop-off by far is for the South African variant with early reports suggesting the Indian variant only weakens the vaccine effect a little more than the UK variant does.

But lab work only takes you so far. Emerging real world evidence is what is giving scientists the most hope.

We know from the UK rollout that vaccines are highly effective against that UK variant. Studies in India where AstraZeneca has been used are also encouraging - although they are yet to be formally published.

But perhaps the most promising is data collected in Qatar on the South African variant.

It suggested the Pfizer vaccine's ability to stop serious illness remains intact and there was only a relatively small loss in blocking mild infections.

In the fight between vaccines and variants, it's the vaccines that are winning.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has urged the prime minister to scrap the new "hopeless" system, which he says has been accompanied by "confused and contradictory" messaging.

He told the Commons many people were now travelling to amber list countries but the government could not say how many or when.

"We are an island nation, we have the power to stop this," he said.

"Why doesn't the prime minister drop this hopeless system, get control of our borders and introduce a proper system that can protect against the threat of future variants of the virus?"

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Meanwhile, EU ambassadors are recommending that restrictions on travel into the EU should be relaxed for fully vaccinated people, and those from countries with low infection rates.

A decision on whether the UK will be included on a so-called "white list" will be made on Friday.

Portugal, Italy and Greece have already dropped quarantine restrictions for British travellers and Spain is expected to make an announcement in the coming days.

Portugal is the only EU country currently on the UK's own green list, allowing travellers to return without going into quarantine.